t 


Early  Western  Travels 

1748-1846 


Volume  XI 


* 


4 


( 


Early  Western  T  ravels 

Comprising 

I.  Memorable  Days  in  America,  being  a  Journal  of  a 
Tour  to  the  United  States,  principally  undertaken  to 
ascertain,  by  positive  evidence,  the  condition  and  prob¬ 
able  prospects  of  British  Emigrants  ;  including  Accounts 
of  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  Settlement  in  the  Illinois.  By  W. 
Faux,  an  English  Farmer. 

II.  A  Visit  to  North  America  and  the  English  Settle¬ 
ments  in  Illinois,  with  a  Winter  Residence  at  Philadelphia. 
By  Adlard  Welby 


Edited  with  Notes,  Introdudtions,  Index,  etc.,  by 

Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  LL.D. 


Editor  of  “The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents,”  “Original 
journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,”  “  Hennepin’s 

New  Discovery,”  etc. 


(Separate  publication  from  “Early  Western  Travels:  1748-1 846,” 
in  which  these  two  reprints  appeared  as  Volumes  XI  and  XII) 


Volume  I 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY. 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

Cleveland,  Ohio 

The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company 

1904 


4 


g  n  s' 

■f  >  i 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  XI 


Preface  to  Volumes  XI  and  XII.  The  Editor 

Memorable  Days  in  America:  being  a  Journal  of  a  Tour  to 
the  United  States,  principally  undertaken  to  ascertain,  by 
positive  evidence,  the  condition  and  probable  prospects 
of  British  emigrants;  including  accounts  of  Mr.  Birk- 
beck’s  Settlement  in  the  Illinois:  and  intended  to  shew 
■  Men  and  Things  as  they  are  in  America.  (Part  I: 
November  27,  1818  -  December  31, 1819).  William  Faux. 

Author’s  Dedication  ...... 

Author’s  Preface  ...... 

L 

List  of  Subscribers  . . 

Text  (Part  I)  ...... 


9 


23 

25 

27 

33 


ILLUSTRATIONS  TO  VOLUME  XI 

“A  Log  House  drawn  from  Ingle’s  Refuge,  State  of  Indiana, 

U.  S.,  by  W.  Faux”  .......  20 

Facsimile  of  title-page  to  Faux  . 


21 


PREFACE  TO  VOLUMES  XI  AND  XII 


The  curiosity  of  Englishmen  in  regard  to  social  condi¬ 
tions  in  the  United  States  had  been  but  mildly  active 
during  the  generation  following  the  Revolution;  but  it 
was  quickened  by  the  occurrences  of  the  War  of  1812-15, 
and  by  the  tide  of  emigration  that  at  its  close  set  thither¬ 
ward  from  the  British  Isles.  This  sudden  revival  of 
interest  in  American  transplantation  was  the  result  of  a 
chain  of  more  or  less  related  events  in  the  mother  country. 
Chief  among  these  were  the  termination  of  the  Napoleonic 
wars  and  the  consequent  agricultural  distress,  resulting 
in  widespread  political  dissatisfaction.  So  extensive  was 
the  emigration  movement  to  the  United  States  that  English 
publicists  were  much  concerned,  and  newspapers  and 
magazines  teemed  with  information  regarding  our  country 
and  warnings  designed  for  prospective  colonists.  Every 
English  traveller  hither,  whether  his  journey  was  that  of  a 
serious  investigator  or  merely  of  a  tourist  eager  to  behold 
strange  lands  and  new  conditions,  felt  impelled  to  give 
his  personal  impressions  in  volumes  of  varying  merit,  evin¬ 
cing  every  shade  of  admiration  and  dislike.  In  articles, 
pamphlets,  and  books,  intending  emigrants  were  alter¬ 
nately  cajoled  and  terrified.  Americans  were  described 
either  as  a  race  of  enlightened  freemen  or  as  retrograded 
to  the  level  of  savages;  American  political  institutions  were 
either  the  best  or  the  worst  possible;  and  life  in  America 
was  painted  either  as  a  paradise  or  a  purgatory,  according 
to  the  whim  of  the  author  or  his  personal  predilections. 

In  these  descriptions,  which  appear  to  have  been 


IO 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


eagerly  read  in  England,  the  rapidly  developing  West  was 
particularly  prominent.  Curiosity  regarding  the  East  was 
readily  sated  —  the  West  appealed  to  Englishmen  as  a 
new  and  unknown  land,  but  lately  the  haunt  of  Indians 
and  beasts,  now  the  home  of  hordes  of  land-speculators 
and  of  a  rude  but  interesting  race  of  border-men. 
Enticements  of  every  conceivable  sort  were  thrown  out 
to  induce  settlers  thither  —  the  salubrity  of  the  climate, 
the  fertility  of  the  land,  were  extolled ;  freedom  from  taxa¬ 
tion,  and  the  benefits  of  a  liberal  government  were  merits 
glowingly  set  forth  —  here  were  homes  for  the  world,  ready 
for  the  taking.  The  more  sober  projectors  did  not  fail  to 
observe  the  immediate  difficulties  and  hardships  of  frontier 
conditions;  it  was  foreseen,  however,  that  these  were  but 
temporary  obstacles,  to  vanish  before  the  will  and  energy  of 
the  active  man,  who  by  industry  alone  might  possess  that 
coveted  boon  of  the  Old  World,  land  for  self  and  posterity. 
English  capitalists  brought  money  for  investment,  colonies 
were  planned,  towns  were  laid  out,  families  were  trans¬ 
planted  to  found  a  new  Albion  in  the  then  Far  West. 
Among  these  schemes  the  Illinois  settlement  of  Morris 
Birkbeck  and  George  Flower,  described  in  Volume  X  of 
our  series,  acquired  most  prominence,  and  was  widely 
extolled  or  fiercely  attacked  by  succeeding  English 
visitors. 

The  accounts  of  travellers  —  many  of  them  less  valu¬ 
able  than  the  paper  on  which  they  were  printed  —  having 
in  view  a  definite  purpose  either  to  increase  or  to  discourage 
English  emigration,  might  well  have  been  ignored  by 
American  readers.  But  the  sensitive  pride  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  was  aroused,  when  the  English  re¬ 
viewers  made  such  volumes  of  travel  the  medium  of  savage 
and  cynical  attacks  upon  American  life  and  institutions. 


1818-1820]  Preface  i  j 

The  London  Quarterly ,  under  the  editorship  of  Gifford, 
began  in  1814  a  series  of  articles  in  the  guise  of  open  cari¬ 
catures,  aimed  at  all  things  American,  from  literature  to 
public  inns,  ridiculing  our  manners,  customs,  courts  of 
justice,  methods  of  government,  and  habits  of  private  life. 
For  ten  years,  at  varying  intervals,  both  the  London  and 
Edinburgh  magazines  indulged  in  acrimonious  articles  of 
this  character,  which  were  answered  with  recriminations 
by  the  North  American  Review  and  a  number  of  reputable 
American  authors. 

Among  the  works  that  played  a  prominent  part  in  this 
‘  ‘War  of  the  Reviewers/’  we  have  selected  two  of  the  best 
known,  and  most  unfavorable  in  their  report  upon  Western 
conditions,  in  order  to  show  what  English  provincials, 
predisposed  toward  quiet,  orderly,  rural  life  in  Britain, 
found  to  annoy  and  disgust  them  in  the  seething,  turbulent 
frontier  West,  with  its  heterogeneous  population,  its  raw 
conditions,  its  struggle  with  untamed  nature. 

William  Faux,  author  of  Memorable  Days  in  America 
(London,  1823),  was,  according  to  his  own  ascription, 
“An  English  farmer,”  whose  tour  to  the  United  States 
was  ‘  ‘principally  undertaken  to  ascertain,  by  positive  evi¬ 
dence  the  condition  and  probable  prospects  of  British 
emigrants;  including  accounts  of  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  settle¬ 
ment  in  the  Illinois:  and  intended  to  shew  Men  and 
Things  as  they  are  in  America.”  According  to  the  British 
reviewers,  who  quoted  largely  from  him,  he  was  a  ‘  ‘simple¬ 
ton  of  the  first  water,  a  capital  specimen  of  a  village  John 
Bull,  for  the  first  time  roaming  far  away  from  his  native 
valley  —  staring  at  everything,  and  grumbling  at  most.”1 
His  book  reveals  lack  of  manners  and  good  taste,  a  coarse 
betrayal  of  hospitality,  and  a  low-bred  craving  for  noto- 


1  Blackwood's  Magazine ,  November,  1823. 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


I  2 


riety.  As  to  his  style,  the  Quarterly  says:2  “We  cannot 
compliment  our  farmer  upon  his  talents  as  a  writer,  nor,  to 
do  him  justice,  does  he  appear  to  expect  it.  It  was  his 
study  to  ‘avoid  everything  which  might  savour  of  sys¬ 
tematic  arrangement,’  and  he  has  succeeded  to  admiration. 
Nothing  can  be  more  desultory  than  his  wandering; 
nothing  more  heterogeneous  than  the  contents  of  the  same 
page  —  radicals  and  rye-coffee,  slavery  and  green  pease, 
bugs  and  statistics.”  Even  at  the  distance  of  eighty  years, 
it  seems  surprising  that  reputable  English  journals  should 
have  made  the  work  of  such  an  author  the  basis  of  criti¬ 
cisms  upon  American  life.  The  sensitiveness  of  our  fore¬ 
bears  under  such  an  infliction  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  nor 
the  bitter  retort  of  their  representative  review.3 

However,  amidst  Faux’s  chaff  there  is  some  good  grain, 
quite  worth  the  attention  of  the  student  of  early  American 
life.  His  very  brutality  and  frankness  lead  to  revelations 
of  conditions  which  men  more  delicately-minded  would 
have  felt  bound  to  conceal.  We  may  at  this  date,  perhaps, 
pardon  our  author’s  lack  of  taste  and  good  manners,  for 
the  fidelity  with  which  he  holds  his  mirror  up  to  portray 
American  nature  at  a  time  when  our  Middle  West  was  the 
Far  West.  It  is  perhaps  needless  to  caution  the  modern 
reader  that  the  murders,  deceits,  inhumanities,  defects  of 
justice,  and  barbarities  portrayed  on  the  pages  of  Faux 
were  the  exceptional  cases,  industriously  collected  by  this 
sensation-monger.  His  much-boasted  revelation  of  a  slave- 
murder  in  South  Carolina  was,  as  the  North  American 
shows,  a  travesty  upon  an  inquest,  and  in  its  sequence 
maliciously  distorted.  Despite  its  carping  tone,  so  annoy¬ 
ing  to  Western  people  at  the  time,  but  which  we  can  now 


2  July,  1823. 

3  North  American  Review,  October,  1824. 


I 


1818-1820] 


view  with  half-amused  complacency,  the  book  affords 
unwilling  testimony  to  the  vigor  and  energy  of  the  young 
West,  the  vitality  and  freedom  of  its  people,  their  prosperity 
and  progress,  and  above  all  to  the  opportunity  offered  the 
poor  but  industrious  emigrant  to  acquire  a  home  and  a 
competence  in  this  land  of  promise. 

Although  Faux’s  journal  commences  in  November,  1818, 
it  was  the  following  fourth  of  April  before  he  landed  at 
Boston.  Taking  ship  thence  to  Charleston,  South  Caro¬ 
lina,  he  made  a  short  visit  there,  returning  by  water  to 
Philadelphia.  He  then  passed  on  to  Washington,  making 
a  short  side-tour  therefrom  into  the  Shenandoah  country. 
Retracing  his  steps  to  Philadelphia,  and  visiting  New 
York,  the  traveller  next  went  by  way  of  Philadelphia  and 
the  Cumberland  Road  to  Wheeling,  in  what  is  now  West 
Virginia.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Vincennes,  Indiana, 
and  to  the  English  Prairie,  by  way  of  Zanesville,  Maysville, 
Lexington,  and  Louisville.  Two  months  were  spent  with 
friends  in  Illinois,  a  hundred  pages  being  devoted  to  this 
experience.  Returning  eastward,  in  January,  1820,  by 
his  outward  route  as  far  as  Wheeling,  our  author  journeyed 
to  Pittsburg  and  Washington  by  way  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Road.  The  next  six  months  were  spent  in  Washington, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  and  on  July  21,  1820,  he 
embarked  from  Alexandria,  Virginia,  for  England. 

Adlard  Welby’s  book,  A  Visit  to  North  America  and  the 
English  Settlements  in  Illinois ,  with  a  Winter  Residence  at 
Philadelphia  (London,  1821),  was  also  employed  as  a 
weapon  in  the  reviewers’  warfare,4  and  as  a  whole  is  un¬ 
favorable  in  its  attitude  toward  American  life.  Welby 
gives  evidence  of  having  been  a  better  type  of  man  and 
author  than  Faux.  Apparently  a  gentleman  and  trained 


4  London  Quarterly  Review ,  April,  1822. 


H 


Early  W e stern  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


in  good  society,  he  respects  honorable  reserves,  and  uses 
less  offensive  familiarity  with  the  facts  he  observes  than 
does  Faux.  Welby’s  dislike  for  America  arises  from  his 
conservative  disposition.  Accustomed  to  the  conditions 
of  life  encountered  by  the  upper  middle  class  in  England, 
he  had  formulated  for  himself  a  standard  of  comfort  as 
yet  not  attainable  in  the  United  States;  and  lacking  imagi¬ 
nation,  he  failed  to  perceive  that  the  crudeness  in  American 
life  evidenced  the  lack  of  opportunity  rather  than  signified 
deterioration.  Travelling  westward  in  his  own  carriage, 
with  a  valet  to  attend  him,  he  stoutly  inveighs  against  the 
bad  roads,  poor  inns,  high  charges,  and  indifferent  food, 
as  well  as  the  crudity  and  license  of  American  manners, 
and  the  extravagance,  uncleanliness,  and  rudeness  of 
American  living.  His  irritation  reaches  a  climax  when  he 
exclaims,  “To  a  rough  untutored  set  of  savages,  another 
race  of  little  less  than  savages  (clothed  savages)  has  suc¬ 
ceeded.” 

In  palliation  for  Welby’s  discontent,  and  as  a  partial  ex¬ 
cuse  for  the  bad  treatment  he  alleges,  it  should  be  remem¬ 
bered  that  just  then  Englishmen  were  in  high  disfavor 
in  the  West,  and  every  patriotic  frontiersman  regarded 
it  almost  in  the  light  of  a  national  duty  to  take  advantage 
of  any  transient  traveller  of  that  nation.  Welby,  there¬ 
fore,  saw  life  in  the  West  through  pessimistic  spectacles. 
Ohio  was  a  wilderness,  the  abode  of  the  land  shark; 
Kentucky  lands  had  decreased  in  value,  and  its  population 
was  moving  away;  the  Illinois  settlement  was  a  failure, 
its  founders  at  variance,  its  people  longing  for  their  old 
home.  He  remarks  upon  sectional  divergencies,  moral¬ 
izes  upon  duelling,  and  deprecates  an  oligarchy  founded 
merely  upon  wealth  and  good  clothes.  His  aristocratic 
prejudices  are  exhibited  in  his  preference  for  the  society 


1818-1820] 


Preface 


J5 


found  in  slave  states,  where  the  obsequiousness  of  the  serv¬ 
ing  class  frankly  pleases  his  taste. 

Aside  from  his  insularity  and  class  prejudice,  which  were 
eminently  characteristic  of  the  travelled  Englishman  of  his 
time,  Welby  not  only  throws  much  light  on  the  early  West, 
and  the  prospects  and  surroundings  which  then  and  there 
met  the  emigrant,  but  makes  many  practical  observations 
of  worth  to  the  modern  student  of  social  conditions.  The 
listlessness  of  the  people  on  the  occasion  of  public  holidays 
makes  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration  appear  to  him  like  a 
funeral.  The  name  of  Washington  is  revered,  but  the 
birthday  of  “the  immortal”  calls  forth  but  feeble  oratory. 
Our  observant  but  prejudiced  traveller  frequently  notes 
the  lack  of  energy,  and  the  lounging  habits  of  the  populace; 
yet  he  rather  inconsistently  deprecates  the  universal  love  of 
money,  the  feverish  eagerness  to  be  rich,  which  character¬ 
izes  the  average  American,  who  in  the  race  for  wealth  finds 
scarcely  time  to  eat.  The  national  character  seems  to  him 
flat  and  insipid,  which  he  attributes  in  part  to  the  mixed 
nature  of  the  population  and  the  homesickness  of  the  emi¬ 
grant,  prophetically  remarking  that  ‘  ‘time  alone  can  wear 
down  their  heterogeneous  habits  into  a  national  character.” 
Welby  admired  President  Monroe,  remarking  upon  the 
ease  and  simplicity  of  his  manners,  and  the  lack  of  state 
with  which  he  was  surrounded.  The  author’s  unstinted 
admiration,  however,  was  reserved  for  the  landscape,  whose 
beauties  everywhere  delighted  him. 

Welby  landed  in  New  York  June  21,1819,  after  a  voyage 
of  six  weeks,  and  soon  passed  on  to  Philadelphia.  Thence 
he  travelled  westward  over  the  Lancaster  Turnpike  and 
the  Pennsylvania  Road,  through  Bedford  and  Greensburg, 
to  Pittsburg.  Not  pausing  here,  because  of  the  “heat, 
dirt,  filth,  and  charges,”  he  pushed  on  to  Wheeling,  the 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


future  of  which  he  estimated  to  be  far  more  hopeful  than 
that  of  Pittsburg.  From  Wheeling  he  crossed  Ohio  by  the 
State  Road,  built  on  Zane’s  Trace  to  Zanesville,  Chillicothe, 
and  Maysville,  Kentucky.  From  Maysville,  the  route  was 
by  Lexington  and  Frankfort  to  Louisville.  Thence  he 
crossed  the  Ohio  River  and  went,  by  way  of  Paoli  and 
Washington  (Indiana),  to  Vincennes.  From  here  he 
visited  Albion,  in  English  Prairie,  to  which  he  gives  the 
name  “Boulton  House  Prairie.”  After  a  rather  cursory 
examination  of  the  Birkbeck  settlement,  Welby  retraced 
his  steps  to  the  East,  to  which  much  of  his  book  is  devoted. 

Read  in  connection  with  other  foreign  travellers,  whose 
works  we  have  published  in  the  antecedent  volumes  of  our 
series  —  the  Michauxs,  Cuming,  Flower,  Woods,  and 
Flint  —  the  journals  of  Faux  and  Welby  form  an  interest¬ 
ing  contrast,  and  in  their  sort  a  drastic  corrective  to  what 
in  the  others  is  sometimes  over-praise. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  two  volumes  for  the  press, 
the  Editor  has  been  assisted  by  Louise  Phelps  Kellogg, 
Ph.D.,  Edith  Kathryn  Lyle,  Ph.D.,  and  Mr.  Archer  Butler 
Hulbert. 

R.  G.  T. 

Madison,  Wis.,  December,  1904. 


Part  I  (1818-19)  of  Faux’s  Memorable  Days  in 
America,  November  27,  1818 -July  21,  1820 


Reprint  of  the  original  edition:  London,  1823.  The  reprint  will  be 
concluded  in  Volume  XII  of  our  series 


A  Log  House,  drawn  from  Ingle’s  Refuge,  State  of  Indiana,  U.  S.,  by  W.  Faux 


MEMORABLE  DAYS  IN  AMERICA 


BEING 

A  JOURNAL  OF  A  TOUR 

TO 

%\ n  ^antteu  states, 

PRINCIPALLY  UNDERTAKEN  TO  ASCERTAIN,  BY  POSITIVE  EVIDENCE, 

THE 

CONDITION  AND  PROBABLE  PROSPECTS 

or 

BRITISH  EMIGRANTS; 

INCLUDING 

ACCOUNTS  OF  MR.  BIRKBECK’S  SETTLEMENT 

IN  THE  ILLINOIS: 

And  intended  to  show  Men  and  Things  as  they  are  in  America. 


By  W.  FAUX, 

AN  ENGLISH  FARMER. 


aonUon; 

PRINTED  FOR  W.  SIMPKIN  AND  R.  MARSHALL. 

STATIONER’S  HALL  COURT,  LUDGATE  STREET. 


1823. 


TO 

HIS  GRACE,  THE  DUKE  OF  BEDFORD, 

AND  TO 

THOMAS  WILLIAM  COKE,  ESQ.,  M.  P., 

THE 

DISTINGUISHED  PATRONS  OF  THE  AGRICULTURE 
OF  THEIR  NATIVE  COUNTRY 
THE  FOLLOWING  FAITHFUL  PAGES 
INTENDED  TO  ENABLE 
THE  CAPITALISTS,  YEOMEN,  AND  LABOURERS 

OF  ENGLAND 

TO  FORM  A  JUST  AND  WELL-FOUNDED  ESTIMATE 
OF  THE  COMPARATIVE  ADVANTAGES 
OF  BRITISH  FARMING 
AND 

AMERICAN  EMIGRATION 
ARE 

WITHOUT  PERMISSION 
BUT  WITH  THE  GREATEST  RESPECT 
INSCRIBED 

BY  THEIR  ADMIRER,  FRIEND,  AND  COUNTRYMAN 

THE  AUTHOR 


■ 


- 


■ 


V 


' 


■ 


PREFACE 


In  any  other  point  of  view  than  with  reference  to  the 
facts  and  observations  which  are  here  submitted  to  the 
public,  who  I  am,  and  what  I  am,  is  certainly  a  matter 
of  small  moment;  nor  shall  I  detain  the  reader  with  any 
observations  on  that  subject,  on  which  sufficient  infor¬ 
mation,  through  the  medium  of  the  following  pages,  will 
probably  be  found. 

The  motives  which  induced  me  to  visit  America,  and 
afterwards  to  give  to  the  public  the  results  of  my  experi¬ 
ence,  originated  in  many  favourable  prepossessions  for 
that  country,  and  in  a  strong  desire  to  ascertain  the  naked 
truth,  in  all  particulars  relating  to  emigration  to  that  land 
of  boasted  liberty:  When  I  saw  thousands  of  my  country¬ 
men  hurrying  thither,  as  though  they  fled  [viii]  for  life, 
and  from  the  city  of  destruction,  I  became  very  anxious 
to  know  the  real  nature  of  their  prospects.  To  them,  I 
felt  assured,  that  a  statement,  containing,  to  the  best  of 
the  writer’s  belief,  the  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth, 
plainly  and  fearlessly  spoken,  and  calculated  to  give  a  cor¬ 
rect  impression,  would  be  of  the  most  essential  service; 
and,  upon  those  subjects  to  which  my  inquiries  were  par¬ 
ticularly  directed,  I  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  say,  that 
I  was,  in  some  measure,  qualified  to  judge,  by  experience, 
and  by  the  habits  of  my  life.  With  these  views,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  retrace  my  many  steps,  and  to  take  the 
reader  with  me,  that  he  may  see,  taste,  and  know,  things 
as  they  are ;  the  rough  with  the  smooth ;  the  bitter  with  the 
sweet;  the  good  with  the  evil.  That  he  may  go  where  I 


26 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


go;  hear  all,  see  all,  and,  by  evidence,  judging  all,  form  his 
own  resolutions  and  conclusions. 

I  may  truly  say,  that  throughout  the  whole  of  this  enter- 
prize,  I  have  been,  in  a  great  degree,  influenced  by  a 
sense  of  patriotic  duty.  The  same  sentiment  impels  me 
to  the  completion  of  my  task,  in  the  hope  that  the  truth, 
so  long  perverted  [ix]  and  concealed,  may  contribute  to 
destroy  the  illusions  of  transatlantic  speculation,  and  to 
diffuse  solid,  home-bred  satisfaction  amongst  my  indus¬ 
trious  countrymen.  Deeply  sensible,  as  I  am,  of  all  the 
kindness  which  I  met  with  in  the  United  States,  and  fond, 
as  its  natives  are  proverbially  known  to  be,  of  unmixed 
praise,  I  shall  yet  speak  of  them  and  their  country,  as  I, 
from  first  impressions,  corrected  by  subsequent  reflection, 
thought,  found,  and  felt,  alternately  and  impartially  blam¬ 
ing  and  praising,  where  I  believe  censure  and  encomium 
to  be  honestly  due. 

To  my  many  subscribers  in  both  the  old  world  and  the 
new,  some  apology  for  the  delay  which  has  taken  place  in 
the  publication  of  this  volume,  may  be  thought  necessary. 
It  is  simply  this;  and  found  in  one  circumstance,  over 
which  I  had  no  control  —  a  long  and  painful  paralysis, 
contracted  in  America,  which  seemed,  for  some  time,  to 
threaten  my  life. 

Throughout  the  work,  I  have  studiously  avoided  every 
thing  which  might  savour  of  systematical  or  methodical 
arrangement;  it  being  my  wish  [x]  to  give,  as  nearly  as 
practicable,  my  Journal,  as  it  was  begun,  progressively 
continued,  and  ended;  and  thus  to  make  plain  delineations 
and  convey  correct  impressions  —  Pictures  from  life  — 
Things  as  they  are ! 

Somersham , 

June ,  1823. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS 


A 

Atkinson,  Rev.  John,  Somersham. 

Asplan,  Mr.  William,  Bluntisham. 

Asplan,  Mr.  ditto,  for  three  friends,  ditto ,  3  copies. 

B 

Bedford,  His  Grace  the  Duke  of,  Woburn  Abbey. 
Butler,  Rev.  Mr.  London. 

Bonfield,  Rev.  J.  Chatteris. 

Bonfield,  Mr.  Wimblington. 

Bird,  Mr.  Thomas,  London. 

Blake,  Mr.  John,  Yarmouth. 

Biggs,  Mr.  Linton. 

Brown,  Mr.  John,  Earith. 

Brown,  Mr.  Samuel,  Somersham. 

Barley,  Mr.  Edward,  March. 

Betts,  Mr.  Potion. 

C 

Coke,  T.  W.  Esq.  M.  P.  Holkham. 

Curwen,  J.  C.  Esq.  M.  P. 

Chowns,  John,  Esq.  Welches,  near  Welwyn ,  Herts. 
Chatfield,  Rev.  Dr.  Chatteris. 

[xii]  Cooper,  Rev.  Mr.  Potton. 

Chaplin,  — ,  Esq.  Fulborn. 

Culledge,  — ,  Esq.  March. 

Cockle,  George,  Esq.  M.  D.  St.  Ives. 

Cockle,  George,  jun.  Esq.  Willingham . 

Cole,  Mr.  G.  Norwich. 


28 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Cole,  Mrs.  St.  Ives. 

Cooche,  Mr.  ditto. 

Coote,  Mr.  William,  ditto. 
Coote,  Mr.  John,  Wisbeach. 


D 

Dudley,  Sir  H.  B.  Bart.  Ely. 

Day,  G.  G.  Esq.  St.  Ives ,  4  copies. 

Dawes,  Frederick,  Esq.,  M.  D.,  Washington ,  America ,  100 
copies. 

Dumbleton,  Mr.  E.  Coppingford  Lodge. 

E 

Emery,  Mr.  T.  W.  Potton. 

Ellis,  Mrs.  ditto. 


F 

Fiske,  Rev.  Mr.  Fulborn. 

Farre,  J.  R.  Esq.  M.  D.  Charter-House  Square. 
Fryer,  John,  Esq.  Chatteris. 

Fryer,  Thomas,  Esq.  ditto. 

Fryer,  Mr.  Daniel,  ditto ,  6  copies. 

Faulkner,  William,  Esq.  Potton. 

Freshwater,  Mrs.  ditto. 

Fisher,  T.  E.  Esq.  St.  Ives. 

Fountain,  Mr.  J.  Norwich. 

Faux,  William,  sen.  Sutton. 

[xiii]  G 

Gurney,  John,  Esq.  Serjeant’s  Inn,  London. 
Gifford,  Mr.  J.  Cambridge. 

Gray,  Mr.  Nathan,  March. 


Faux' s  ^Journal 


29 


i8i8-igip] 

Grey,  Mr.  G.  Wimblington. 

Groocock,  Mr.  W.  A.  St.  Ives. 

Gell,  Miss,  ditto. 

Gray,  Mr.  Buckworth ,  (for  the  Kimbolton  Book  Society). 

H 

Hunt,  Henry,  Esq.  King’s  College ,  Cambridge. 

Hardy,  Johnson,  Esq.  March. 

Hammond,  John,  Esq.  Fenstanton. 

Hatchard,  Rev.  John,  Chatteris. 

Holmes,  Rev.  Mr.  Wisbeach. 

Hill,  James,  Esq.  ditto. 

Hallack,  Mr.  Cambridge. 

Huckberry,  Mr.  Spalding. 

Harris,  Henry,  Esq.  Peterborough. 

Howson,  Mr.  sen.  Huntingdon. 

Hutchinson,  Mr.  Stoakley,  Colne. 

Hagger,  Mr.  Potton. 

Hall,  Mr.  Biggleswade. 


I 

Isaacs,  Rev.  Mr.  Chatteris. 
Johnson,  Hardy,  Esq.  March. 
Johnson,  Mr.  Catlin,  Potton. 
Jecks,  Mr.  Wisbeach. 

Ilett,  Edward,  Esq.  Chatteris. 
Ilett,  Mr.  Jonathan,  Earith. 

Ingle,  John,  Somersham. 

Ingle,  Mr.  Willingham. 

[xiv]  K 

King,  Rev.  — ,  Prebendary  of  Ely. 


3° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


L 

Lloyd,  John,  Esq.  Potton. 

Leeds,  Mr.  John,  Somersham. 

Leigh,  Mr.  Thomas,  Earith. 

Livet,  Mr.  Richard,  Cumberland  Street ,  New  Road ,  Lon¬ 
don. 

M 

Moseley,  L.  Esq.  Somersham. 

Mason,  William,  Esq.  ditto. 

Martin,  — ,  Esq.  Potton. 

Martin,  Downes,  Esq.  Godmanchester . 

Margetts,  Thomas,  Esq.  Hemingford  Grey. 

Margetts,  Mr.  P.  ditto. 

Morton,  Mr.  Potton. 

Manning,  Mrs.  ditto. 

Masters,  Mr.  ditto. 

Massey,  Mr.  ditto. 

Martin,  Mr.  sen.  Somersham. 

Mayfield,  Mr.  John,  St.  Ives. 

N 

Nicholls,  Mr.  Buckworth. 

O 

Osborne,  J.  Esq.  St.  Ives. 

Orris,  Rev.  — ,  Somersham. 

Owen,  Mrs.  Mepal. 

P 

Pinchard,  Dr.  Haddenham. 

Prince,  — ,  Esq.  Balsham. 

[xv]  Pittiss,  Edward,  Esq.  Newport ,  2  copies. 


1818-1819] 


Faux* s  Journal 


31 


Pryme,  George,  Esq.  King's  College ,  Cambridge. 
Pratt,  William,  Esq.  March. 

Pratt,  Mr.  Norwich. 

Pierson,  Mr.  Kimbolton. 

Potto,  Mr.  Carter,  Earith. 

Peake,  Mr.  St.  Ives. 

Patrick,  Miss,  Potton. 


R 

Rugeley,  W.  P.  Esq.  Potton. 

Rugeley,  Mrs.  ditto. 

Rugeley,  Mr.  H.  St.  Ives. 

Robinson,  Mr.  Noble,  ditto. 

Rogers,  Mr.  John,  Potton. 

Robinson,  Captain,  of  the  Electra  Packet. 

S 

Smith,  Major,  Somersham. 

Smith,  Mrs.  Coppingford  Lodge. 

Sewell,  Thomas,  Esq.  Chatteris. 

Sparrow,  Mr.  Norwich. 

Sparling,  Mr.  Yarmouth. 

Sutton,  Mr.  G.  St.  Alban's. 

Setchfield,  Mr.  D.  St.  Ives. 

Shaw,  J.  jun.  Esq.  King  Street ,  Cheap  side,  2  copies. 
Smith,  Mr.  J.  Chatteris. 

Steed,  J.  London. 


T 

Tillard,  Rev.  Richard,  A.  B.  Bluntisham. 
Thomson,  George,  Esq.  Somersham. 
Tebbutt,  M.  Esq.  Bluntisham. 


32 


Early  W e stern  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


U 

Underwood,  Mrs.  Potton. 

[xvi]  Underwood,  James,  Esq.  Ordnance  Office ,  Tower. 
Underwood,  Mr.  Somersham. 

Upsher,  Mr.  Thomas,  Sutton. 

Upsher,  Joseph,  Esq.  St.  Ives. 

V 

Vipan,  Benjamin,  Esq.  Mepal. 

Vipan,  Joseph,  Esq.  Sutton. 

W 

Wilson,  Thomas,  Esq.  Houghton ,  St.  Ives. 

Wilson,  John,  Esq.  Somersham. 

Wilson,  Mr.  J.  Oakes,  ditto. 

White,  Mr.  Thomas,  Bluntisham. 

White  and  Medcalf,  Messrs.,  Oxford  Street ,  London ,  2 
copies. 

Wallis,  Mr.  R.  Hemingford  Grey. 

Wells,  Mr.  Samuel,  Huntingdon. 

Wittingham,  Rev.  R.  Potton. 

Warner,  Charles,  Esq.  Somersham. 

Wright,  Mr.,  Chemist,  Wisbeach. 

Y 

Youd,  George,  Esq.  Wisbeach. 


JOURNAL 

[PART  I] 

Having,  through  the  medium  of  the  public  prints,  ad¬ 
vertized  my  intended  departure,  and  made  the  necessary 
preparations,  I  bade  farewell  to  my  good  and  venerable 
father,  whom  I  never  expected  to  see  more,  and  tore  my¬ 
self  from  the  embraces  of  my  wife,  and  of  one  dear  and 
only  child.  On  the  following  day,  being  the 

27 th  November ,  1818,  I  reached  London,  on  the  Defi¬ 
ance  coach,  after  riding  all  day  in  the  rain.  On  the  next 
day,  I  boarded,  in  the  King’s  Dock,  the  good  ship  Wash¬ 
ington, ,  which  carried  out  Mr.  Fearon  and  Mr.  Lancaster. 
The  former  gentleman  was,  I  found,  disliked  by  the  cap¬ 
tain,  and,  indeed  by  all  Americans,  on  account  of  the 
fidelity  of  his  Sketches.  I  called  on  him  and  thought  him 
an  interesting  and  intelligent  man.  I  requested  of  the 
tourist,  letters  to  his  friends;  “No,”  said  he,  “my  book 
has  destroyed  them:  you  will  confirm  my  reports.”1 

December  1 6th. —  I,  this  day,  boarded  the  good  ship 
Ruthy ,  and  paid  15/.  in  part  of  passage,  to  [2]  Captain 
Wise  of  Boston,  to  Charleston  bound:  “We  are,”  said  he, 
“short  of  money  in  America;  but  sure  of  living.” 

215/. —  Insured  120/.  on  my  luggage  with  Butler  and 
Wade,  and  tried  in  vain  at  several  offices  to  effect  a  life- 
insurance,  the  climate  to  which  I  was  destined  being 
doubly  hazardous.  Received  from  my  physician  a  pre¬ 
scription,  costing  and  really  worth  three  guineas,  and  fit 

1  For  a  brief  note  on  Fearon,  see  Flint’s  Letters ,  volume  ix  of  our  series,  note 
119. —  Ed. 


34 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


for  both  land  and  sea.  Take  two-thirds  of  Cheltenham 
salts,  and  one-third  of  Epsom  salts,  mixed;  a  quarter  of 
an  ounce,  dissolved  in  a  pint  of  hot  spring  water,  and  drunk 
an  hour  before  rising,  is  a  dose  which  may  be  often  re¬ 
peated,  if  necessary,  by  patients  disposed  to  indigestion. 

January  ist,  1819. —  On  Monday  last,  five  days  since, 
I  came  on  board  the  Ruthy ,  then  lying  in,  and  now  creep¬ 
ing  down  the  Thames;  nothing  remarkable  having  yet 
transpired.  On  Wednesday,  I  showed  myself  at  the 
custom-house  at  Gravesend.  Now,  twenty-five  miles 
from  the  Downs.  Our  crew  and  passengers  consist  of 
three  Englishmen,  one  Welshman,  one  Spaniard,  and 
nine  sprightly  Americans,  including  our  youthful  captain, 
twenty-five  only,  of  very  energetic  habits,  and  manners,  and 
aspect;  possessing  an  air,  an  eye,  and  a  voice  which  say, 
arm ;  which  create  or  annihilate;  which  say  be  or  not  be. 
What  a  pity  that  so  much  natural  manly  talent  and 
efficiency  should  be  mixed  up  with  so  much  frightful  pro¬ 
faneness  !  The  ship  [3]  has  yet  no  motion,  nor  is  there 
any  sickness,  except  amongst  the  poultry,  and  first  mate, 
who  seems  sick  and  ready  to  die.  I  began  an  epistle  to 
my  father,  and  assured  him  that  my  heart  is  a  compass, 
which  will  ever  truly  point  towards  England,  and  that  a 
ship  is  a  prison,  a  house  without  land,  where  life  is  most 
uncertain,  and  death  always  at  hand. 

Sunday ,  yd. —  Under  weigh  at  half  past  eight,  but 
soon  stranded ;  struck  and  stuck  fast  on  the  shallow  sands 
above  Margate  roads.  Somewhat  alarmed,  but  provi¬ 
dentially  off  again  at  three  o’clock  tide,  losing  only  an 
anchor  and  cable  worth  100I.  Terrible  language  even  on 
this  day;  but  Sabbath  none  here! 

4 th. —  Safely  anchored  in  the  Downs,  off  Deal;  where 
at  six  p.  m.  the  pilot  left  us.  Boarded  by  smugglers,  offer- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  yournal 


35 


ing  best  Hollands  at  14s.  and  12s.  6d.  per  gallon,  which 
they  keep  sunk  in  the  sea.  The  captain  traded,  and 
thereby  saved  100/.  per  cent.  Wind  full  south,  right 
a-head;  rough  sea;  felt  squeamish,  not  sick. 

5 th. —  In  company  with  the  captain,  visited  Deal  Castle, 
the  seat  of  Lord  Carrington,  an  ancient  fortress,  and  forti¬ 
fied,  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  against  the  Spanish 
Armada,  Called  on  Edward  Iggledon,  Esquire,  the 
American  vice-consul.  The  captain  here  evinced  a  laud¬ 
able,  and  obliging,  yet  barbarian  curiosity. 

6th. —  Under  weigh  at  noon.  Passed  Dover  [4]  Castle 
Distinctly  saw  the  coast  of  France.  Parted  with  our  old 
friends,  the  Deal  smugglers;  sea-robbers,  whose  constant 
prayer  is,  “Give  us  a  good  south-wester a  wreckful  gale 
in  the  fatal  Downs.  Boarded  by  Lloyd’s  agent,  who  re¬ 
ports  the  time  of  coming  in  and  leaving  the  Downs.  Saw 
two  bright  light-houses,  shining  from  the  South  Foreland. 
At  eight,  p.  m.  came  on,  right  a-head,  a  strong  wind  on  a 
leeward  shore,  and  a  very  heavy,  swelling,  rough,  angry 
sea,  such  as  I  had  never  before  seen,  alternately  lifting  me 
on  my  head  and  hee1^,  while  in  bed.  No  sleep,  all  night. 

7 th. —  Both  wind  and  sea  more  violent  than  ever;  the 
latter  running  deep,  right  over  the  ship,  and  falling  like 
claps  of  thunder  on  the  roof  of  my  cabin.  Continued 
thirty-six  hours  in  bed  with  but  little  sleep,  drinking  neat 
Hollands,  and  eating  biscuit  only,  so  avoiding  sea-sick¬ 
ness,  though  morally  sick  at  heart. 

Sth. —  Rose  at  eight.  Fine  morning,  wind  N.  W. 
The  Isle  of  Wight  a-head.  Visited  the  steerage,  a  hole 
unfit  for  either  man  or  beast.  My  simple  Cambrian 
friend  found  himself  robbed  of  his  dollars,  by  the  sailors 
artfully  borrowing  his  keys.  Passed  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
At  six,  p.  m.,  off  the  Isle  of  Portland,  another  tremendous 


36 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


gale  came  on,  worse  than  the  last,  on  a  leeward  shore;  no 
port;  a  dismal  atmosphere,  with  all  the  horrors  of  Thurs¬ 
day  night  doubled.  From  the  captain’s  dark  physiog¬ 
nomy  I  saw  our  danger,  though  not  [5]  willingly  admitted 
by  him.  We  could  see  no  land  from  the  mast-head,  only 
a  dismasted  vessel;  and  knowing  not  where  we  went, 
suffered  the  ship,  without  sail,  to  drift  back.  Felt  my 
nervous  system  greatly  shocked  and  impaired;  passed  a 
most  dreadful  night,  admitting  of  no  sleep,  but  a  fearful 
looking  out  for  death  and  swift  destruction  on  the  rocks. 
At  nine,  p.  m.,  the  gale  abated,  and  hope  dawned;  and 
we  hailed  an  Isle  of  Wight  pilot-boat,  which  led  us  to 
Mother  Bank ,  Portsmouth-harbour.  Great  and  general 
was  the  joy  of  all  on  board,  some  being  sick,  and  all  worn 
down  with  fatigue  and  excessive  watching.  Thunder  this 
morning.  Off  Ryde,  at  anchor,  by  eleven  o’clock,  a.  m. 
Felt  great  gratitude,  but  not  commensurate  with  the  deliv¬ 
erance.  The  feeling  during  the  gale  was  that  of  over¬ 
whelming  fear,  and  as  one  under  sentence  of  death,  in 
dreadful  suspense,  waiting  the  moment  which  was  to  sink 
us  all  in  old  ocean’s  deep  unfathomed  caves.  It  was  the 
most  miserable  24  hours  of  my  life,  but  worse  were  to 
follow.  I  was  near  resolving,  that  if  I  reached  shore,  I 
would  abandon  my  mission!  My  hopes,  objects,  pros¬ 
pects,  and  all  the  bright  visions  of  the  future,  seemed  only 
as  things  passed  away.  When  safely  anchored,  I  felt  as 
one  risen  from  the  dead;  and,  though  my  fears  tried  to 
seduce  me  towards  home,  shame,  and  my  little  remaining 
courage,  impelled  me  to  proceed. 

nth. —  The  gale  continues:  how  happily  anchored!  [6] 
Infinite  mercy  calls  for  infinite  gratitude !  In  the  gale,  we 
damaged  our  cargo,  and  lost  nearly  all  our  water;  the 
bung-holes  of  the  casks  being  left  carelessly  unclosed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  Journal 


37 


If  this  had  happened  in  the  midst  of  the  western  sea,  we 
must  have  returned,  or  have  perished  with  thirst. 

1 2th. —  In  the  stage  for  Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  to  the 
hospitable  board  of  Messrs.  J.  and  Edward  Pittiss,  where 
we  were  regaled  like  princes.  This  town  is  London  in 
miniature;  it  contains  6,000  people,  and  is  as  beautiful 
as  any  in  Britain.  Viewed  Carisbrook  Castle,  with  its 
wonderful  well,  250  feet  deep.  Visited  Mr.  Barnet  of 
Cowes,  who  has  wild  cattle  on  his  estate.  Left  our  good 
and  hospitable  friends,  and  promised  to  ourselves  to  return 
such  kindness  with  interest,  when  opportunity  occurred. 

19 th. —  Reached  Roxhall-farm,  near  God’s  Hill,  to 
dine  with  John  Arnold,  Esq.  whose  house  and  estate  are 
delightful.  Mr.  Arnold  has  resolved  on  emigration,  with 
handsome  property,  good  agricultural  knowledge,  and 
first-rate  general  intelligence.  He  farms  400  acres  of  good 
land  at  20 s.  per  acre,  but  has  lost  on  it  300 l.  per  annum  for 
some  time  past,  which  he  thinks  is  an  argument  in  favour 
of  emigration.2 

25 th. —  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  it  has  been  [7]  my 
lot,  while  on  board  the  Ruthy,  and  that  too  in  Portsmouth 
Harbour,  to  partake  of  chicken  which  had  died  diseased, 
and  pig  killed  because  it  could  no  longer  live,  though  well 
nursed  during  its  sickness.  I,  in  consequence,  dread 
starving  if  I  remain  here;  the  recollection  of  having  thus 
fed,  quite  destroying  appetite.  Mr.  Pittiss  this  day  came 
on  board  with  the  present  of  a  hare,  which  was  barbar¬ 
ously  boiled,  and  slush  (or  melted  fat)  poured  over  it  for 
dinner.  This  was  my  last  interview  with  this  respectable 
man,  to  whom  I  gave  introductory  letters  to  friends  in 
America. 

2  This  gentleman  and  family,  with  io  of  the  Pittiss  family,  sons  and  daugh¬ 
ters,  brave  and  fair  as  Britain  boast,  have  emigrated  to  the  Western  wilds. — 
Faux. 


38 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


27^. —  To  dinner  this  day  at  the  Cornish  Arms,  Ports¬ 
mouth,  the  landlord  of  which  always  presides,  and  at 
table  toasts  Bonaparte,  by  saying  aloud,  “God  bless  Bon¬ 
aparte,  the  man  of  the  people,  the  Frenchman’s  hope,  and 
the  glory  of  the  world !”  Splendid  portraits,  too,  hang  in 
almost  all  parts  of  the  house;  and  one  in  particular,  in  the 
drawing-room,  must  only  be  approached  bareheaded  and 
bowing.  Mr.  Cole  is  quite  an  original.  At  noon,  a  S.  E. 
wind  hurried  us  on  board,  to  prepare  for  sea.  Received 
a  pilot. 

2 8th. —  Weighed  anchor  at  five,  and  dropped  into 
Cowes  harbour  at  ten,  a.  m.,  having  in  view  the  beautiful 
hills  of  the  Isle,  adorned  with  castles  and  mansions.  Spoke 
the  ship  Plato,  from  Baltimore  to  Bremen  bound,  and 
recently  exposed  to  the  worst  gales  and  weather,  and  much 
damaged  [8]  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  where  the 
crew  were  frost-bitten  and  lost  their  toes  and  fingers’  ends. 

29 th. —  Sailed  at  six  this  morning.  Wind  at  S.  E. 
Passed  Yarmouth,  Lymington,  and  Christ  Church,  in  full 
view,  and,  at  one,  p.  m.,  those  sublime  romantic  rocks 
rising  high  out  of  the  water,  and  therefore  called  the 
Needles.  Here  the  pilot  left  us. 

30 th. —  Now  off  Plymouth,  but  no  land  in  view.  Made, 
since  yesterday,  130  miles.  Felt  possessed  of  more  cour¬ 
age  than  when  last  at  sea,  or  rather  a  sort  of  desperate, 
not  pious,  resignation.  On  leaving  St.  Aldhams  head, 
yesterday,  saw  no  more  of  poor  old  England.  Peace  to 
my  dear  native  land ! 

31^. —  In  lat.  48°.  Saw  two  Yankee  brigs,  for  Eng¬ 
land  bound.  Rose  at  midnight,  and  beheld  the  pale  moon 
illuminating  the  dark  sea,  which  looked  like  an  infinite 
lake  of  quicksilver. 

To  my  sorrow  is  it  known,  that  the  captain  finds  his 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


39 


beef  and  porter  (bought  for  good)  good  for  nothing,  the 
former  having  been  a  voyage  to  the  East  Indies !  Naviga¬ 
tors  up  the  Mississipi  river,  frequently  steal  from  10  to 
20  sheep  at  once  from  the  farmers,  and  think  it  no  crime ; 
it  being  more  convenient  to  steal  than  to  buy.  Captain 
Wise,  when  there,  acknowledges  he  saw  his  crew  dressing 
several  sheep  so  stolen,  but  forbid  them  not;  only  telling 
them  they  should  not  let  him  know  of  such  [9]  thefts. 
Alas !  poor  honesty,  how  art  thou  discarded ! 

February  2nd. —  Fine  day.  Wind  none.  Eleven  sail 
in  view:  a  dead  calm.  Lat.  48°. 

yd. —  Almost  a  gale,  and  right  a-head  all  day.  I  per¬ 
ceive  my  fears  lessen  as  I  proceed.  Huge  mountainous 
waves  of  a  mile  in  length,  but  as  they  do  not  break,  as  in 
the  Channel,  the  ship  gallantly  rides  over  them.  Saw  a 
fine  mast  afloat,  recently  fallen  from  some  ill-fated  ship. 
Lat.  470,  and  on  the  skirts  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  A  large 
shoal  of  sea-hogs,  alias  porpoises,  played  round  our  ship; 
we  harpooned  one,  which  instantly  became  a  prey  to  its 
fellows.  Its  blood  invites  them  to  destroy  and  devour  it. 

4 th. —  Bad  weather,  wind  west,  right  a-head;  lat.  470 
30'  at  noon.  At  a  recent  anniversary  in  Boston  of  Free 
Blacks,  met  to  celebrate  the  abolition,  or  as  they  term  it 
the  Boblition  of  the  slave-trade;  the  chairman  rose  after 
dinner,  and  said,  “Gemmen,  I  be  Massa  Peter  Guss,  and 
give  you  this  toast,  That  President  Madison  be  no  more 
like  General  Washington  than  pute  finger  in  the  fire,  and 
haul  it  out  again !”  great  applause.  And  another  toast 
was,  “Mr.  Wilberforce  be  the  blacky-man’s  friend,  and 
may  he  never  want  polish  to  his  boots.”  I  give  this  anec¬ 
dote,  as  I  heard  it  from  an  American;  but  contempt  of 
the  poor  blacks,  or  niggers,  as  they  are  there  called,  seems 
the  national  sin  of  America. 


4° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


[io]  5 th. —  Squally,  and  almost  a  gale  all  day.  Felt  no 
fear,  but  hope  and  confidence  in  the  good  hand  which  can 
deliver.  Our  first  mate  turned  into  the  steerage  for  diso¬ 
bedience  this  morning,  and  a  fight  near  at  hand  between 
himself  and  the  captain.  Our  black  steward  is  known  as 
a  champion  of  champions,  having  conquered  a  hero  of 
his  own  colour  by  butting  on  all  fours,  like  two  rams,  a 
mode  of  fighting  common  amongst  blacks. 

7 th. —  In  the  bay,  off  Spain,  and  170  miles  from  the 
port  of  Corunna. 

Sth. —  Lat.  440.  Bad  day,  wind  a-head,  blowing  hard. 
Black  superstition.  Our  steward  has  this  moment  lost 
a  drop  of  red  blood,  which  involuntarily  fell  from  his 
black  pug  nose.  “There,”  said  he,  “I  have  lost  my 
mother  —  a  good  friend.”  This  blood-losing  he  considers 
as  a  sure  omen  of  death  taking  place,  having  more  than 
once  proved  it. 

9 th. —  All’s  in  the  wrong.  Head  wind.  No  fire  in 
the  cabin.  So  cold,  that  I  am  compelled  to  wear  two 
pair  of  hose,  and  my  large  box-coat.  Coals  are  few  and 
our  captain  stingy,  being  one  of  those  Yankees  (says  our 
first  mate)  who,  in  the  Southern  States,  are  said  to  skin  a 
flea  for  the  sake  of  its  hide  and  tallow.  My  liver,  how¬ 
ever,  seems  on  fire,  through  want  of  exercise  and  whole¬ 
some  food.  I  am  pained  in  all  positions,  and  every 
breath  is  costly.  This  is  an  evil  day.  A  small  jug  of 
water  fell  of  itself  to  the  floor  from  the  table,  at  [11]  which 
the  captain  in  high  rage  rang  for  the  poor  absent  broken- 
backed  steward,  and  accused  him  of  doing  it.  Then, 
doubling  his  fist,  he  knocked  the  steward  down  twice,  by 
violent  blows  on  the  head,  and,  when  down,  set  his  foot 
on  his  neck,  and  stamped  three  times  on  it  violently. 
The  poor  fellow  gave  no  provocation,  but  only  begged 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


41 


for  mercy,  and  said,  ‘ ‘ Captain,  you  must  do  as  you  will 
with  me  now.”  He  is  a  faithful  creature,  and  the  captain’s 
conduct  brutal,  but  somewhat  national. 

15 th. —  Turned  in  this  evening,  much  indisposed,  and 
in  want  of  every  good.  Hapless  is  the  prospect;  a  long 
passage  yet  before  us,  with  but  little  water,  no  fire,  weather 
cold,  provisions  bad  and  few.  The  sailors  already  on 
short  allowance  both  of  bread  and  water,  and  wind  yet 
a-head.  At  two  this  morning  greatly  scared  by  several 
frightful  squalls,  one  of  which  bellowed  like  loud  thunder, 
and  nearly  laid  the  ship  on  her  lee  side;  insomuch  that  I 
expected  a  visit  from  the  grim  king  of  terrors,  clad  in  his 
most  dismal  attire.  At  eight,  a.  m.  rose  from  my  bed  of 
horrors  after  a  racking  of  38  hours;  sad,  as  ever  fell  to 
the  lot  of  man !  In  a  gale,  and  laid  to,  for  the  two  follow¬ 
ing  days. 

19 th. —  Wind  still  a-head.  Find  that  the  steerage, 
through  want  of  cleanliness,  swarms  with  creeping  things. 
Now,  3,000  miles  in  a  direct  course  from  our  destined 
port,  Charleston  city.  [12]  We  are  off  those  beautiful 
Western  isles,  the  Azores,  abounding  with  herds,  grapes, 
wine,  oil,  and  earthquakes.  Summer,  this  morning,  sud¬ 
denly  burst  in  upon  us;  the  air  being,  in  the  shade,  warmer 
than  May  in  England. 

20 th. —  Fine  day,  dead  calm,  lat.  38°;  therm,  in  shade 
65°,  in  the  water,  6i°,  at  night  70°.  Have  now  taken 
leave  of  old  winter.  It  is  June;  no  chilling  breezes.  How 
delightful,  to  an  Englishman,  is  weather  like  this  in  Feb¬ 
ruary.  Now,  within  70  miles  of  the  Azores,  to  which 
ship-loads  of  mahogany  are  annually  drifted  along  the 
gulf  stream,  from  the  bay  of  Honduras. 

2 yd. —  Day-light  from  six  to  six  in  this  delightful 
climate.  I  saw,  during  the  day,  what  sailors  call  sun- 


42 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


dogs,  a  species  of  rainbow,  without  either  pillar  or  arch, 
having  only  a  base,  and  being  thought  symptomatic  of 
windy,  squally  weather.  The  horizon  at  sun-set  glowing 
with  crimson,  pink,  and  blue,  the  perfection  of  beauty. 
This  being  the  6oth  day  of  our  passage,  we  have  yet  3,000 
miles  to  sail,  and  stores  for  10  days  only.  Distress  and 
famine  are  predicted.  The  men  grumble  about  long  days’ 
work,  and  short  allowance  of  food  and  sleep;  more  of  the 
latter  is  given,  and  as  to  the  former,  they  intend  redressing 
themselves.  At  this  distance  from  land,  we  saw  a  land-bird. 

25 th. —  Met  a  fine  Grampus.  Rose  at  five,  a.  m.  and 
laid  aside  my  winter  dress.  Saw  a  few  dolphins.  [13] 
I  find  my  eyes  glisten  with  returning  health,  after  a  week’s 
fine  weather  and  a  favourable  wind,  which  has  done  more 
for  us  than  the  three  preceding  weeks. 

28 th. —  Lat.  28°,  and  a  fine  trade-wind,  N.  E.  Every 
thing  outward  wears  a  propitious  aspect,  but  not  so  within. 
Only  one  ounce  of  ham  for  my  breakfast,  and  no  meat 
for  dinner;  but  soup  made  of  lean,  dry,  and  dirty  salt 
beef,  stewed  to  rags,  and  pudding  made  of  flour  and  water 
only.  Feel  however  my  spirits  healed,  and  find  mercy 
mixed  in  this  bitter  cup,  to  be  long  remembered  with 
blessings  and  praise. 

March  1st. —  Stripped  to  my  shirt  all  day.  Sailing 
eight  knots  an  hour,  in  lat.  320.  Saw  this  night  the  young 
moon  in  a  position  new  to  me,  lying  horizontally,  flat  on 
her  back,  as  the  sailors  say,  with  her  horns  upward;  a 
sign  of  fine  dry  weather.  A  regular  trade-wind,  and  at 
sunrise  and  set,  the  sky  full  of  beautiful  blushing  amber 
clouds,  of  indescribable  richness,  but  common  in  this  lati¬ 
tude.  The  sea,  by  reflection,  becomes  a  flood  of  gore, 
especially  while  these  clouds  fly  round  the  expansive  hori¬ 
zon.  The  effect  was  greatly  heightened  by  a  huge  rain- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


43 


bow  at  noon,  which  gave  to  the  waves  all  the  changeful 
hues  of  the  camelion. 

2nd. — Therm.  720,  lat.  26°.  Find  it  necessary  to  seek 
shade  under  the  awning  all  day,  and  at  the  second  and 
third  watch  of  the  night  to  take  an  air-bath,  quite  un¬ 
dressed;  when  I  saw  Venus,  the  [14]  bright  morning-star, 
lighting  the  sky  and  sea  like  a  moon,  casting  a  long  broad 
shadow  over  the  bosom  of  the  wave,  and  yielding  a  light 
nearly  equal  to  the  moon  in  her  first  quarter.  Being  now 
nearly  in  the  tropic  of  Capricorn,  all  the  luminaries  of 
Heaven  blazed  with  a  light  and  brilliancy  quite  novel  to 
me.  Horrible  dissatisfaction  openly  reigns  amongst  the 
crew,  because  hard  worked  and  half-starved.  The  cap¬ 
tain,  in  reply,  kindly  called  them  damned  gluttons,  and 
bid  them  go  and  fare  better  if  they  could.  He  complained 
of  my  talking  to  them,  a  condescension  on  my  part  which, 
he  said,  teaches  them  insubordination,  and  a  liberty  taken 
by  me  not  allowable  in  a  cabin  passenger.  Saw  many 
flying-fish,  winged  as  a  bird,  and  also  several  beautiful 
tropical  birds,  a  species  of  sea-gull,  having  sharp  long  tails, 
formed  of  only  one  quill,  and  called  by  sailors  Neptune's 
children. 

Our  brutish  captain  this  day  beat  and  bruised  the  poor 
steward  with  a  thick  rope  about  his  broken  back,  head, 
and  face,  until  a  torrent  of  red  blood  gushed  from  his 
thick  black  nose.  For  what  ?  Because  the  poor  fellow 
had  been  smoking,  and  could  not  by  washing  make  his 
black  face  white! 

5 th. —  Therm.  78°,  lat.  220,  long.  40°,  and  now  midway 
between  London  and  Charleston.  Saw  a  fine  whale,  re¬ 
flecting  in  its  course  from  the  sun  all  the  hues  of  the  rain¬ 
bow;  and  a  large  flock  of  [15]  flying-fish,  bright  and  silvery, 
and  at  a  distance  easily  mistaken  for  the  feathered  tribe. 


44 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Sunday ,  ith. —  Wind  dead  a-head;  a  rather  singular 
circumstance  in  the  trades.  The  men  busy  making  coffee 
of  roasted  barley.  Eat  the  pig,  the  last  killed  yesterday. 
The  captain  full  of  dark,  savage  thoughts.  It  is  now  a 
fortnight  since  a  sail  was  seen,  and  as  all  seems  wrong,  we 
droop  and  hang  our  heads  like  bulrushes. 

9 th. —  Lat.  2i°,  therm.  78°.  Met  a  huge  shark,  two 
dolphins,  and  a  grampus.  All  hands  now  go  nearly  naked, 
and  quite  stockingless  and  shoeless,  and  frequently  jump 
into  the  brine.  A  passenger,  being  once  seized  with  the 
cramp,  soon  found  himself  drowning;  on  which  a  line 
was  thrown  out,  and  he  seized  it  with  his  teeth  until  it  was 
tied  round  his  arm,  and  he  could  be  so  hauled  up. 

nth. —  S.  W.  wind  blowing  a  gale  all  day,  a  rather  re¬ 
markable  thing  in  this  latitude,  being  within  the  tropic 
line,  where  a  regular  trade-wind  is  expected  from  either 
the  N.  E.  or  S.  E.  All  hands  now  brought  to  short  allow¬ 
ance;  one  biscuit  only,  in  24  hours,  for  the  crew;  and  one 
and  a  half  for  each  man  in  the  cabin.  When  I,  as  now, 
omit  the  latitude,  it  is  because  we  cannot  get  an  observa¬ 
tion,  and  are  driven  backwards,  and  tossed  to  and  fro. 
Our  hopes  are  very  low.  This  evening,  immediately  after 
the  sun  sunk,  the  full  moon  rose  from  a  huge  pillowy 
cloud,  and  shone  with  an  angry  redness  and  largeness,  cast¬ 
ing  an  awful  [16]  splendour  on  the  dark  sky  and  moun¬ 
tainous  sea.  Still  a  gale,  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
generally  received  theory  of  the  trades,  which  should  blow 
as  above  mentioned,  says  Captain  Wise;  but  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  God,  how  his  works  laugh  at  the  theories  of  man ! 

12 th. —  Lat.  220  15'.  A  beautiful  fat  flying-fish  flew  on 
board  this  morning,  and  furnished  us  with  a  delicious 
breakfast. 

Sunday ,  i<\th. —  In  lat.  220,  long.  450.  Wind  due  west, 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


45 


dead  a-head;  a  hope-blasting  wind.  I  continued  nearly 
all  last  night  on  deck  during  a  strong  gale,  it  being  better 
to  see  the  worst  than  to  imagine  it.  This  is  the  sad 
seventy-eighth  day,  from  the  port  of  London.  At  three 
o’clock,  p.  m.  saw,  distant  from  us  10  miles,  a  large  India- 
man;  hailed  her  with  a  signal  of  distress.  At  four,  the 
captain  boarded  her,  the  good  ship  Hamilton  of  Boston, 
from  Canton  92  days,  returning  from  a  trading  voyage 
round  the  world,  manned  and  commanded  by  Captain 
Martyn  and  a  fine,  efficient  crew  of  30  men,  and  armed 
with  20  guns,  musquetry,  swords,  and  pistols,  and  a  large 
magazine.  Our  captain  now  returned  from  the  Hamilton, 
with  his  boat  laden  with  bread,  pork,  and  hams,  tea, 
coffee,  sugar,  and  rum.  What  a  providential  supply! 
What  joy  shone  in  the  faces  of  all  on  board,  who  till  now 
were  greatly  suffering,  and  constantly  meditating  on  what 
should  be  their  conduct  in  case  of  extremities.  Captain 
[17]  Martyn  being  told  that  a  passenger,  meaning  myself, 
was  very  anxious  to  quit  the  Ruthy  for  his  noble  ship,  in¬ 
stantly  ran  on  deck,  and  through  the  mouth  of  a  loud 
sounding  brazen  trumpet,  said,  ‘  ‘Sir,  come  on  board,  you 
are  welcome;  I  shall  charge  you  nothing,  although  yet 
3,000  miles,  in  a  direct  course,  to  sail.”  Seeing  I  hesitated 
a  little,  he  sent  off  his  boafi  and  first  officers  for  me,  and 
through  them  pressingly  renewed  his  invitation.  I  now 
took  my  leave  of  the  Ruthy,  and  returning  with  them, 
found  my  new  captain  a  generous,  gentlemanly  man,  hav¬ 
ing  a  noble  vessel  stored  with  pigs,  poultry,  turtles,  and 
goats  (for  milk),  all  alive  and  fat,  from  Canton  city. 
There  was  besides  on  board,  a  profusion  of  China  sweet¬ 
meats,  Jamaica  rum,  old  oily  brandy  and  wine,  and  new 
bread,  on  table  daily;  and,  at  night,  a  Chinese  bed  of 
down  to  receive  me,  all  from  Asia,  the  Sandwich  isles,  and 


46 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


the  north-west  coast  of  the  American  continent,  where  dur¬ 
ing  the  last  four  years,  this  adventurous  ship  has  been 
trading  to  its  awful  hazard  but  great  advantage.  It  has 
netted  to  its  owner  in  four  years  20,000/.;  to  the  captain 
seven  and  a  half  per  cent.,  and  to  the  first  mate  one  per 
cent.  The  present  cargo  being  composed  of  China  silks, 
crapes,  and  teas,  is  rich,  and  valued  at  20,000 /.  It  was 
received  in  exchange  for  furs  and  skins,  purchased  by 
barter  from  the  Indians  and  South  Sea  islanders,  who 
gladly  take  in  exchange  train-oil,  powder,  shot,  [18]  knives, 
simple  toys,  and  gaudy  printed  cottons.  This  is  a  fine 
trade  for  men  of  capital. 

16 th. —  Fine  day;  wind  fair,  N.  E.  lat.  220.  Owing  to 
want  of  science,  and  inability  to  take  lunar  observations, 
on  board  the  Ruthy,  I  discover,  by  Captain  Martyn, 
our  longitude  to  be  48  instead  of  450.  We  have  on  board 
a  beautiful  white  Chinese  mouse  working  a  wheel,  like  a 
squirrel;  and  a  cage  full  of  Java  sparrows,  with  crimson 
beaks.  Caught  this  morning  three  beautiful  dolphins, 
which  we  fry  and  eat  as  a  luxury.  We  now  sail  nine  knots 
an  hour  with  little  motion,  and  I  amuse  myself  with  reading 
General  Washington’s  invaluable  Legacies .3  Beautiful  silk 
umbrellas  and  huge  parasols  from  Canton,  on  board ;  prime 
cost,  two  dollars;  and  portraits,  large  as  life,  in  elegant 
frames,  at  eight  dollars  each.  Living  in  style  at  Calcutta, 
costs  for  a  mess  (several  in  number)  one  dollar  per  day. 

1  Sth. —  Fine  breeze,  lat.  240,  long.  520  15'.  Caught  a 
fine  fat  porpoise  weighing  200  lbs.,  which  supplies  us  with 
beef-steaks,  fried  in  oily  fat.  Saw  beautiful  Canton  crape, 
three  dollars  a  piece,  sufficient  for  two  dresses;  shawls  of 

3  This  publication  contained  Washington’s  farewell  address  as  well  as 
his  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1796;  the  full  title  being,  Columbia's 
Legacy;  or,  Washington's  Valuable  advice  to  his  fellow  citizens  and  his  farewell 
speech  to  Congress  (Philadelphia,  1796). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


47 


it  equally  low  and  very  rich,  such  as  in  England  are  almost 
unattainable  except  by  the  rich.  Pictures,  too,  four  of 
them  coloured,  four  feet  in  length,  and  one  fan,  all  for  one 
dollar.  These  Chinese  pictures  want  expression  or  im¬ 
press  of  mind,  yet  display  great  ingenuity. 

[19]  20 th. —  Lat.  250,  long.  56°.  As  to-morrow  is  Sun¬ 
day,  we  this  morning  kill  a  fat  Canton  pig  with  little  head 
and  short  legs,  a  delicious  thing  at  sea.  It  weighs  100  lbs. 
(or  40  lbs.  Chinese),  and  is  fatted  on  rice-bran  only,  food 
on  which  an  English  pig  I  suppose  would  starve.  Saw  a 
whale  almost  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  ship. 

The  owner  of  the  Ruthy,  which  I  quitted,  though  now  a 
very  rich  man,  the  Honourable  Wm.  Gray,  of  Boston, 
who  has  a  ship  at  almost  every  port,  was  once  very  poor, 
a  little  shoemaker.4  His  first  mercantile  speculation  was 
a  shipment  of  warming-pans  to  the  West  Indies,  which 
some  wag  advised  him  to  send  thither;  it  was,  of  course, 
a  very  successful  shipment  in  so  cold  a  country,  but  not 
for  the  uses  intended;  the  pans  were  used  as  ladles  for 
molasses  or  treacle. 

Sunday ,  21st. —  Saw  two  sail  to  England  bound,  and 
two  whales  sporting  by  our  ship.  What  a  glorious  trans¬ 
fer  I  have  made,  and  how  timely  and  unexpected,  just  at 
the  moment  when,  on  board  the  Ruthy,  all  our  hopes  had 
perished!  How  merciful  is  the  God  on  whom  I  called! 
For  instead  of  drowning,  starving,  or  eating  each  other,  I 
am  living  on  the  new  and  interesting  luxuries  of  the  east, 
and  surrounded  with  many  rare  curiosities  of  unseen  lands; 

4  William  Gray  (1750-1825),  springing  from  humble  origin,  rapidly  ac¬ 
quired  great  wealth  in  the  shipping  world;  at  one  time  he  owned  sixty  square- 
rigged  vessels.  In  later  life  he  moved  from  his  Salem  home  to  Boston,  and  in 
1810  was  chosen  lieutenant-governor  of  Massachusetts  on  the  Democratic  ticket. 
During  the  War  of  1812-15  he  greatly  assisted  the  government,  and  died  gen¬ 
erally  beloved  and  esteemed. —  Ed. 


48 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


a  bleating  goat  of  Owhyhee  supplies  me  with  milk;  and 
in  the  morning,  the  shrill  clarion  of  Canton  cocks,  the 
cackling  [20]  of  geese,  and  the  grunting  of  swine,  early 
rouse  me  from  my  warm  and  downy  bed ;  and,  all  together, 
make  me  fancy  I  am  in  my  farm-yard,  although  4,000 
miles  distant. 

22nd. —  Lat.  270,  long.  6i°.  Now  about  11  days  sail 
from  Boston.  The  captain  this  morning  turning  out  first, 
cast  a  cup  of  cold  water  into  the  bosom  of  his  clerk,  who 
was  yet  in  bed,  and  promised  him  a  pailful  if  necessary. 
The  clerk  is  a  pleasant  young  man  of  about  25,  and  only 
said,  “Captain,  if  you  expect  perfection  of  me  you  will  be 
disappointed;  I  am  not  perfect.”  Republicans  seem  un¬ 
commonly  tyrannical,  and  sometimes  aristocratical.  We 
sail  swiftly,  and  sometimes  228  miles  in  a  day. 

I  now  sleep  in  high  style  every  night,  having  under  my 
pillow  a  bottle  of  madeira  and  a  basket  of  China  sweet¬ 
meats;  at  my  side  nine  muskets  and  a  huge  broad-sword; 
and  underneath  me  a  magazine  of  gunpowder  and  balls. 

24 th. —  Warm  day,  wind  S.  W.  almost  a  calm,  lat.  30°, 
long.  65°,  now  opposite  to  and  distant  40  miles  from 
Bermuda,  and  720  from  Boston,  our  destined  haven. 
In  this  port  (says  our  captain)  there  is  an  old  hump¬ 
backed  pilot  now  living,  to  whom  some  British  officers 
once  waggishly  said,  “What’s  that  on  your  back  ?”  He 
answered,  “What  do  you  think?  Bunker’s  hill,  to  be 
sure!”  a  reply  which  silenced  the  facetious  inquirers. 

[21]  26 th  —  Lat.  3 20,  long.  66°,  sailing  all  day  7,  and  at 
night  10  knots  an  hour.  The  old  Southern  goat,  kid, 
Canton  cocks,  geese,  hogs,  and  turtles,  begin  to  quake 
with  northern  cold.  In  the  winter  of  1817-18,  the  fish 
generally  experienced  a  vast  mortality;  the  shores  and 
water,  quite  out  at  sea,  were  literally  covered  with  count- 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  "Journal 


49 


less  tons  and  ship-loads  of  dead  and  dying  fish:  much  to 
the  discomfiture  of  shipping,  dependent  on  them  for  a 
supply  of  food.  The  cause  is  unknown,  but  supposed  to 
be  volcanic;  as  very  frequently,  loud  subterraneous,  or 
rather  subaqueous  sounds,  like  the  discharge  of  artillery, 
were  heard  in  these  desolate  regions. 

27 th. —  Now  only  440  miles  from  Boston,  wind  a-head. 
At  midnight  it  blew  a  gale,  and  we  were  in  serious  danger 
of  losing  our  masts  through  not  taking  in  sail  in  time.  I 
rose  at  this  awful  hour,  and  saw  the  horizon  wearing  a 
singularly  angry  aspect.  It  is  predicted  that  this  gale  will 
continue  three  days.  It  did,  in  fact,  last  just  three  days: 
some  men  are  truly  weather-wise,  and  — 

1  ‘  Old  experience  doth  attain 

To  something  like  prophetic  strain.” 

Saw  three  sail;  one,  a  Frenchman,  who  seemed  dis¬ 
posed  to  conceal  his  colours,  when  we  shewed  him  the 
star-spangled  banner,  and  then  loaded,  pointed,  and  fired 
a  cannon  over,  not  at  him,  just  [22]  to  teach  him  good 
manners.  He  now  hoisted  the  dirty  white  flag  of  Louis 
1 8th,  but  would  not  speak  us.  Spoke  a  Yankee  brig,  out 
five  days  from  Boston,  and  compared  her  longitude  with 
ours,  by  exhibiting  both  on  a  board,  from  the  bows  of  each 
ship.  They  agreed ;  and  so  proved  the  nautical  skill  of  our 
captain  to  be  of  the  first  order. 

It  is  now  so  cold  that  three  coats  are  necessary,  although 
only  six  days  since  it  was  too  hot  to  wear  one,  or  any  thing 
else:  we  are  now  anxious  to  see  land.  Saw  the  moon 
distinctly  at  noon-day.  In  stores  for  a  long  voyage,  the 
Americans  take  out  roasted  geese,  ducks,  fowls,  partridges 
and  pigeons,  in  casks  secured  from  external  air  by  closing 
the  tops  over  with  melted  lard  or  mutton  fat,  so  keeping 
all  good  for  several  months:  when  any  are  wanted,  they 


5° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


are  heated  over  the  fire  or  in  an  oven.  As  a  luxury,  pickled 
oysters  are  taken  for  stewing,  which  eat  as  good  as  if  then 
opened  alive  from  the  shell. 

30 th. —  At  eight  last  night  came  on  a  strong  breeze  from 
S.  W.  carrying  us  from  8  to  10  miles  an  hour,  and  increas¬ 
ing  through  this  day,  to  a  gale  of  unprecedented  fury. 
Lat.  36°,  long.  68°,  by  a  correct  lunar  observation.  At 
five  this  evening,  the  affectionate  mother  of  one  dear  and 
only  child  was,  by  the  violent  rolling  of  the  ship,  impelled 
overboard,  and  sunk  to  rise  no  more,  being  buried  in¬ 
stantly  in  a  huge  billow.  She  was  a  native  [23]  of  Owhy- 
hee,  and  is  deeply  lamented  by  all  on  board,  who  had 
shared  in  her  kindness,  for  she  was  milk  and  honey  to  all 
during  a  long  passage  from  Asia.  But  what  pen  can  de¬ 
pict  the  mad,  shrieking  sorrows  of  her  now  motherless 
child,  who  witnessed  this  sad  catastrophe,  and  who  became 
a  poor  orphan,  dependent  on  the  humanity  of  the  captain 
or  owner  of  the  Hamilton !  By  force  only  was  the  frantic 
child  prevented  from  plunging  into  its  mother’s  grave.  Its 
agonies  made  the  following  night  memorable.  The  gale, 
too,  continued  with  unabated  fury,  ready  to  blast  all  hope. 
At  midnight,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the  gulf 
stream,  a  current  60  miles  broad,  and  running  eastward, 
in  a  calm,  three  miles  an  hour.  Here,  until  and  after  the 
dawn  of  day,  we  experienced  severe  thunder  and  lightning, 
forming  altogether  a  horrible  tempest;  a  perfectly  novel 
scene,  such  as  I  had  never  witnessed.  Up  all  night. 

31  st. —  The  morning  dawns,  with  a  most  dismal  frown¬ 
ing  aspect;  the  air  being  full  of  blue  fire  and  crashing 
thunder,  and  the  sea  rising  and  falling  over,  on,  and 
around  us,  like  swelling  mountains  of  liquid  fire.  The 
captain  apparently  bewildered,  not  knowing  how  to  act, 
and  seemingly  overwhelmed  with  doubt  and  indecision. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


5i 


At  nine,  a.  m.  we  tried  for  soundings,  but  found  none, 
the  gulf  being  unfathomable.  At  ten,  fell  a  smothering 
rain,  succeeded  by  a  short  calm,  when  [24]  the  wind  veered 
to  N.  W.  and  the  air  became  suddenly  cold  and  clear, 
though  in  the  gulf  it  was  singularly,  warm  and  foggy;  the 
salt  water  was  there  as  warm  as  milk  from  the  cow,  and 
very  steamy,  and  sparkling  like  burning  sulphur  or  vol¬ 
canic  lava,  having  luminous  particles  large  as  a  hazel  nut; 
but  these,  when  touched  by  the  finger,  disappeared. 
Lat.  390,  long.  70°  50'.  Saw  several  pieces  of  wreck. 
This  is  the  last  day  of  March,  and  was  expected  to  be  the 
last  of  our  lives. 

April  1  st. —  Wind  N.  W.  dead  a-head,  brisk,  and  colder 
than  I  ever  felt  it  on  a  winter’s  day  in  England.  I  resume 
my  winter  dress,  but  cannot  be  warm.  Tried  for  soundings, 
but  our  line  of  140  fathoms  found  no  bottom.  At  present 
we  know  not  where  we  are.  The  captain,  during  yester¬ 
day’s  gale  sulked,  and  would  eat  nothing,  nor  suffer  any 
thing  eatable  to  be  cooked;  I  was  therefore  pining  24 
hours  on  tea,  coffee,  wine,  China  sweetmeats,  and  dry, 
hard  biscuits.  These  brave  circumnavigators  state,  that 
during  the  last  four  years’  voyage,  they  met  not  a  worse 
gale  than  the  equinoctial  tempest  of  yesterday;  and  the 
captain  says,  that  at  six,  a.  m.  he  saw  the  most  dangerous 
sea  he  had  ever  witnessed.  It  was  mounting  1 5  feet  above 
the  ship,  and  ready  to  burst  over  her  stern ;  a  mighty  mass 
of  water,  more  than  sufficient  to  have  swept  the  deck  of 
every  man  and  beast  and  mast  upon  it,  if  not  to  sink  the 
ship  itself.  My  fears  were  not  great;  [25]  but  I  felt  rather 
loth  to  die  without  telling  my  own  tale,  or  enabling  others 
to  tell  it  for  me.  “The  chamber  where  the  good  man 
meets  his  fate,”  seemed  indeed  a  matter  of  envy,  and 
“privileged  beyond  the  common  lot.”  I  desired  and 


5  2 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


prayed  it  might  be  mine,  instead  of  sinking  in  these  dark, 
desolate,  unfathomed  waters. 

At  noon,  we  saw  several  indications  of  land;  a  land- 
sparrow  on  our  rigging,  and  several  fat  Yankee  ducks 
and  geese  near  us.  At  four,  p.  m.  got  soundings  in  ioo 
fathoms  water,  on  a  sandy  bottom,  by  which  we  knew  we 
were  only  70  miles  from  land;  Gay-head  lighthouse. 
Loaded  a  cannon,  ready  for  calling  a  pilot,  when  we  make 
the  said  lighthouse,  which  we  hope  to  do  by  four  to-morrow 
morning.  At  six,  p.  m.  saw  one  sail  to  the  north.  At 
eight,  ten,  and  twelve,  p.  m.  sounded  again  in  40,  35,  and 
30  fathoms.  Still  extremely  cold. 

2nd . —  Fine  clear  morning;  in  10  fathoms  white  water, 
just  on  the  edge  of  a  dangerous  wrecking  shoal,  but  soon 
plunged  into  20  fathoms. 

At  ten,  a.  m.  blessed  with  the  heart-cheering  sound  of 
Land ,  O !  and  saw  the  island  of  Nantucket  from  our  top¬ 
mast,  distant  15  miles,  and  marked  by  three  windmills 
and  a  few  high  white  houses.  My  heart  now  rebounded 
with  gratitude,  at  being  made  so  signal  a  monument  of 
providential  mercy. 

At  eleven,  a.  m.  saw  distinctly  a  beautiful  island,  [26] 
16  miles  round,  of  red  and  yellow  ochre,  called  Martha’s 
Vineyard,  now  occupied  principally  by  civilized  Indians, 
pilots,  and  fishermen.  We  hoisted  the  patriot  colours  of 
South  America,  the  best  signal  for  a  pilot,  who  soon 
boarded  us,  and  conducted  us  to  an  anchorage  in  the  bay, 
formed  by  the  above  island  andsby  a  cluster  of  other  smaller 
isles,  smothered  with  small  hardy  sheep,  which  graze  all 
winter  upon  them.  Passed  a  huge  group  of  wreckful 
rocks,  (some  in  and  some  out  of  the  water)  called  The  Old 
Sow  and  Pigs.  At  six,  p.  m.  a  fishing-boat  came  along 
side,  and  brought  us  a  fine  fry  in  exchange  for  putrid 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


53 


South-Sea  pork.  The  head  fisherman  seemed  a  mighty 
fine  independent  fellow,  both  in  manner  and  conduct. 
Found  our  fine  huge  China  turtle  (a  present  for  the  ship¬ 
owner)  quite  frozen  to  death;  indeed  I  was  myself  half 
frozen,  being  colder  than  ever  I  felt  in  England  in  my  life. 
Absence,  distance,  and  difficulty,  seem  to  enhance  the 
value  of  the  unprized  comforts  which  I  leave  behind  me; 
my  heart  is  thereby  enlarged  for  those  too  little  loved  ob¬ 
jects  whom  I  have  quitted,  perhaps,  to  see  no  more. 

3 rd. —  At  six  this  morning  weighed  anchor  in  Holm’s 
Hole  harbour,  a  beautiful  little  port  of  Martha’s  Vineyard. 
On  leaving  this  pleasant  vineyard,  we  fired  a  salute  of  five 
guns,  which  nearly  shook  me  out  of  bed.  Saw  a  beautiful 
fleet,  of  10  sail,  around  us.  The  island  of  Nantucket  [27] 
alone  sent  out  last  year  60  sail  of  whalers  round  Cape 
Horn.  At  noon,  we  made  Cape  Cod,  a  long  neck  of  land 
running  100  miles  into  the  sea,  and  having  four  light¬ 
houses  on  it,  offering  to  the  eye  a  singular  scene;  an 
immense  bank  or  ridge  of  dirty  white  sand,  quite  naked, 
and  bare,  without  grass,  shrubs,  or  trees;  it  is  the  most 
perilous  part  of  the  coast.  By  midnight  we  made 
Boston  light,  and  fired  two  cannon  for  a  pilot,  who  soon 
came  to  us,  and  took  the  helm. 

Sunday ,  4 th. —  At  daybreak  passed  Fort  Independence, 
Fort  Strong ,  and  Fort  William ,5  which  are  all  founded  by 

6  Fort  Independence,  situated  on  Castle  Island,  was  begun  in  1801  and 
completed  two  years  later.  The  first  fort  on  the  island  was  erected  by  Gov¬ 
ernor  Winthrop.  In  1701  this  old  work,  which  had  been  several  times  strength¬ 
ened  and  repaired,  was  demolished  and  Castle  (or  Fort)  William  was  con¬ 
structed.  This  the  British  destroyed  upon  their  evacuation  of  Boston  (1776), 
Fort  Independence  now  occupying  the  old  site.  Faux  consequently  errs  in 
speaking  of  them  as  distinct  forts. 

Fort  Strong  was  constructed  in  the  fall  of  1814  by  the  voluntary  services 
of  patriotic  citizens,  and  named  in  honor  of  the  governor  of  the  commonwealth. 
It  was  situated  on  the  southerly  end  of  Noodle’s  Island. —  Ed. 


54 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


nature,  and  built  upon  two  little  islands,  a  fine  cluster  of 
which  surround  and  ornament  the  mouth  of  this  noble 
harbour  of  Boston,  now  lying,  with  all  its  towers,  spires, 
and  masts,  in  full  view  before  me;  the  hills  around  are 
all  capped  with  snow.  At  eight,  a.  m.  we  saluted  this 
town,  the  grand  emporium  of  Yankee  land,  with  16  guns. 
At  nine,  a.  m.  our  ship  was  boarded  by  its  fortunate  owner, 

- Lyman,  jun.  Esq.  one  of  the  richest  men  (says  the 

captain)  in  America.6  I  was  introduced  to  him  by  a 
polite  and  friendly  shaking  of  hands,  in  the  presence  of 
the  captain,  who  said  I  was  an  English  gentleman  taken 
out  of  a  ship  in  distress,  belonging  to  his  neighbour,  the 
Honourable  W.  Gray.  He  then  invited  me  to  his  town 
mansion,  and  saying  that  he  would  see  me  again  next 
morning,  in  the  kindest  and  most  gentlemanly  manner 
took  his  leave.  I  [28]  now  shaved  and  arrayed  myself  in 
the  costume  of  London;  and  at  ten  o’clock,  in  company 
with  the  captain,  went  on  shore.  With  great  gratitude,  I 
felt  my  foot  press  the  earth  once  more, —  the  free  earth  of 
America !  On  landing,  curiosity  brought  many  gay, 
cheerful,  free,  easy,  good-looking  faces  to  behold,  and 
gaze,  and  guess,  what  I,  the  foreigner,  was,  whence  coming, 
whither  going,  and  why  ?  Of  the  women  whom  I  saw  at 
first,  I  thought  but  meanly,  all  being  old  or  ugly;  but  the 
men  fair,  and  in  their  Sunday  dress ;  the  town,  too,  though 
full  of  melting  snow,  was  highly  interesting,  especially 
when  associated  with  the  recollection  of  its  having  so 

8  The  form  of  the  name  would  indicate  that  Faux  refers  to  Theodore  Lyman, 
junior;  but  the  context  (see  p.  57)  shows  that  it  must  have  been  his  older 
brother,  George  Williams  Lyman,  a  son  of  Theodore,  an  eminent  merchant  in 
the  Northwest  fur  and  China  trade.  George  joined  his  father  in  commerce 
for  a  time,  but  afterwards  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  cotton, 
and  was  prominent  in  founding  the  industries  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts.  In 
1810  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ^Journal 


55 


bravely  fought  for  liberty,  and  preferred  it  to  English  tea, 
sweetened  with  taxation,  and  the  milk  of  maternal 
monarchy.  I  feel  much  nearer  home  than  I  am,  and  find 
good  fare,  good  wine,  and  good  company  at  my  boarding¬ 
house,  the  cost  of  which  is  one  dollar  per  day.  My  fellow 
boarders  are  moderately  social.  I  accompanied  one 
gentleman  to  church,  an  edifice  inwardly  and  outwardly 
splendid,  and  the  congregation  fashionable;  but  I  thought 
the  service  and  the  sermon  very  dull  and  insipid,  and  the 
worship  altogether  inanimate.  As  Sunday  here  vanishes 
with  the  daylight,  I  went  in  the  evening  to  the  Town-hall, 
to  Caucus,  a  grand  political  meeting  of  thousands  of  the 
Mobocracy ,  met  to  deliberate  upon  the  choice  of  a  state 
governor,  &c.  The  orators,  on  the  present  occasion,  being 
principally  [29]  well  educated  federalists,  seemed,  some 
of  them,  eloquent  and  ingenious  abusers  of  the  democrats, 
who  angrily  retorted  on  their  opponents.  Thus  I  found 
two  strong  parties,  which  I  am  at  present  unable  to  define, 
except  as  mutual  haters  of  each  other,  like  Whigs  and 
Tories  in  England. 

5 th. —  The  people  here  seem  thankful  for  nothing,  or 
rather,  they  do  not  shew  it.  Mr.  Smith,  my  landlord,  a 
pleasant  Scotsman,  advises  his  and  my  countrymen  to 
keep  at  home,  if  they  cannot  bring  from  500/.  to  1,000/. 
The  poor,  he  says,  are  not  wanted  here,  nor  any  where  in 
the  state  of  Massachusetts,  where  many  are  unemployed, 
and  nobody  is  satisfied.  According  to  promise,  I  met 
Mr.  Lyman  again,  at  his  large  commercial  office,  who  re¬ 
newed  his  kind  offer  of  any  needful  services  while  in 
Boston.  He  then  accompanied  me  to  the  exchange,  and 
there  introduced  me  to  the  richest  merchant,  save  one,  in 
America,  the  Honourable  Wm.  Gray,  a  gentleman  of  kind 
manners,  but  of  an  eccentric  look;  with  long  withered 


56 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


features,  pale  complexion,  white  hair,  and  dressed  in  an 
old  cloak,  and  a  hat,  seemingly  20  years  old.  Notwith¬ 
standing  all  this,  he  appeared  on  change  to  be  an  influen¬ 
tial  object  of  attraction.  He  kindly  offered  me  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  his  friends  and  bankers,  at  Charleston, 
S.  Carolina. 

6th. —  Seemed  pleased  with  every  thing  and  every  body, 
and  every  body  with  me.  Visited  the  State  house,  where 
assembles  the  legislature,  and  [30]  governor  at  its  head. 
From  the  top  of  the  dome  of  this  stately  structure  I  sur¬ 
veyed  the  university  of  Cambridge  and  Bunker’s  Hill, 
about  two  miles  distant.  Boston,  from  this  elevation, 
appears  to  be  encircled  by  the  sea,  and  by  broad  rivers, 
over  which  are  bridges  nearly  a  mile  in  length.  The 
beauteous  hills  and  contiguous  valleys  shine  with  villas, 
villages,  and  towns,  which,  together,  make  the  perspective 
rich  and  inviting  to  an  English  stranger.  Of  churches 
there  are  here  plenty;  but  churches  create  not  religion. 
The  new  part  of  the  town  glitters  with  elegant  mansions, 
which  strike  the  eye  of  the  stranger  with  surprise.  In 
these  live  rich  or  retired  merchants. 

7 th. —  My  trunks  and  person,  this  day,  exposed  at  the 
custom-house  to  a  gentle  scrutiny  only,  not  a  British 
searching.  This  establishment  is  superior  and  well  con¬ 
ducted.  At  noon  very  politely  introduced  by  Mr.  Jonson 
to  the  Reading  Rooms ,  where  I  found  nearly  all  foreign 
and  domestic  newspapers.  The  morning’s  first  salutation 
from  a  gentleman  to  a  young  lady  is,  4  4  Miss  Lucy,  you 
look  smart,”  or  “you  come  out  bright  this  morning.” 
Fine  man, —  smart  man,  or  woman,  seems  the  highest 
praise  amongst  the  commonalty.  Took  leave  of  my 
friendly  guide,  Mr.  Burnham,  who  left  me  for  the  interior. 
He  presented  me,  at  parting,  with  a  keepsake;  an  elegant 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


57 


burning-glass,  for  kindling  segars;  and,  in  return,  carried 
with  him  my  esteem  and  regards. 

[31]  8th. —  By  appointment  I  met  on  change  and  re¬ 
turned  home  with  Mr.  Lyman  to  dinner,  where  all,  within 
and  without  his  establishment,  is  attractive.  The  lady  of 

my  host  is  an  accomplished  daughter  of - Otiss,  Esq. 

the  celebrated  oratorical  senator  in  congress  from  this 
state.7  In  politics  Mr.  Lyman  is  a  very  strong  federalist, 
and  his  lady  also.  She  thinks  America  and  its  govern¬ 
ment  far  inferior  to  ours,  regrets  the  loss  of  the  British 
yoke,  and  ranks  our  Courier  and  Post  amongst  her 
favourite  papers.  “And  then,”  said  she,  “how  pleasant 
are  even  the  cottages  of  your  poor!”  Mr.  Lyman  and 
his  lady  seemed  on  all  subjects  unanimous,  and  especially 
in  giving  preference  to  England,  and  every  thing  English. 
His  brother  is  now  in  England,  on  a  visit  to  Holkham,  the 
seat  of  our  illustrious  commoner,  Mr.  Coke.  Mr.  Birk- 
beck8  and  emigration  now  became  the  theme:  “At  that 
gentleman,”  said  he,  “I  am  astonished.  He  is  inten¬ 
tionally  or  unintentionally  deluding  your  English  farmers, 
who,  if  they  come  to  America,  must  drive  their  own  carts, 
waggons,  and  ploughs,  into  the  field  and  to  market,  and 
work  here  as  hard  as  labourers  work  there,  or  not  live. 
And  even  in  this  state,  you  see,  as  to-day,  our  farmers 
hauling  their  own  produce,  such  as  hay  and  corn,  to  mar¬ 
ket,  where  they  have  to  stand  all  day,  or  hawk  it  about 
from  house  to  house.  What  would  your  smart  English 

7  Harrison  Gray  Otis  (1765-1838)  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class  at 
Harvard,  1783,  and  entered  the  bar  in  1786.  Being  elected  toj-Congress  in  1796, 
he  became  an  important  figure  in  that  body.  From  1803-05  he  was  speaker 
of  the  house,  and  for  twelve  years  thereafter  president  of  the  senate.  He  re¬ 
signed  his  senatorial  seat  in  1823  to  become  a  candidate  for  mayor  of  Boston. 
Although  then  defeated,  he  was  finally  elected  mayor  six  years  later. —  Ed. 

8  For  a  brief  biography  of  Morris  Birkbeck,  see  Hulme’s  Journal,  volume 
x  of  our  series,  note  19. —  Ed. 


58 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


farmers  think  of  this,  and  how  would  they  like  it?  If 
however,  Mr.  [32]  Birkbeck  and  others  must  emigrate, 
why  should  they  go  into  our  wilderness,  far  from  society, 
or  at  best  mixing  up  with  the  refuse  of  our  population, 
with  men  of  stained  names,  thieves,  and  insolvents,  who 
go  thither  to  hide  themselves;  voluntary  exiles,  of  whom 
society  is  well  rid,  because  unable  to  endure  them.  The 
Caucus  which  you  attended  on  Sunday  night,  embodies 
the  respectable  part  of  the  citizens,  federalists,  and  demo¬ 
crats,  who  differ  but  little  in  real  principle:  the  former 
are  always  most  favourable  to  England,  and  think  a  war 
with  her  always  unnecessary,  and  an  evil  to  be  avoided,  the 
latter  prefer  France  and  the  French.”  My  host  seems 
to  regret  that  his  freehold  and  other  large  estates  give  to 
him  no  more  power  than  that  of  the  humblest  citizen,  and 
says  that  my  countryman,  Joseph  Lancaster,  will  be  for¬ 
bidden  to  instruct  the  black  people  of  the  South,  it  being 
indispensably  necessary  that  they  should  remain  in  igno¬ 
rance.9 

9 th. —  Agreeably  to  promise,  I  this  morning  visited  the 
Honourable  Wm.  Gray,  a  moderate  democrat,  a  hoary 
honest  patriotic  chronicler  of  America  long  before  the 
revolution.  He  is,  in  other  respects,  a  kind-hearted,  in¬ 
telligent,  grandee  of  this  republic,  highly  influential  both 
in  commerce  and  politics,  filling  and  having  filled  the 
most  responsible  stations  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts. 
He  seems  the  exact  reverse  of  Mr.  Lyman,  in  state  matters 

8  Joseph  Lancaster,  born  in  London  in  1778,  entered  the  ministry  at  the 
age  of  sixteen;  but  soon  turning  his  attention  to  educational  matters,  he  be¬ 
came  the  founder  of  the  “Lancastrian  system,”  a  method  of  mutual  instruc¬ 
tion  wherein  the  more  advanced  pupils  taught  those  below  them.  In  1818  he 
came  to  America,  and  under  the  name  of  the  National  Lancastrian  Society, 
associations  were  formed  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  his  system  in  the  prin¬ 
cipal  cities  of  the  United  States.  Many  schools  were  established,  but  the  founder 
remained  poor,  and  was  accidentally  killed  in  New  York  city  (1838). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  journal 


59 


and  opinions:  he  feels  sure  that  British  [33]  farmers  and 
labourers,  of  steady  habits,  must,  and  do  benefit  by  emi¬ 
gration,  to  so  good  and  flourishing  a  country  as  America, 
and  says,  that  Englishmen  are  esteemed  far  above  all 
other  Europeans.  I  said  I  thought  that  feeling  was 
mutual  between  the  people  of  both  countries,  but  that 
little  goodwill  existed  in  our  government  towards  revolted 
America:  he  thought  so  too.  “I  wish  you  to  call  on  the 
British  consul,  an  amiable  man,  to  whom  I  will  introduce 
you;  he  lives  near  my  country  seat;  and,  sir,  any  advice 
or  money  of  mine,  is  much  at  your  service.  I  regret  I 
cannot  pay  you  better  attentions,  for  I  am  greatly  pleased 
to  see  English  gentlemen  come  amongst  us,  to  witness,  as 
to-day,  the  fairness,  freeness,  and  openness  of  our  elec¬ 
tions,  which  you  see  are  conducted  in  an  orderly,  respect¬ 
able  manner.  Here  is  no  confusion;  a  voter  has  only  to 
choose  his  ticket,  and  give  it  as  and  to  whom  he  pleases, 
and  that  secretly,  and  unknown,  if  he  thinks  proper.” 
While  I  was  thus  snugly  closetted  with  my  honourable 
friend,  a  gentleman  abruptly  entered  and  joined  our  con¬ 
versation.  He  was  at  the  head  of  a  manufactory  of  broad 
cloths,  equal,  he  thought,  to  any  imported.  An  establish¬ 
ment  of  this  kind,  till  lately,  was  almost  a  novelty;  he 
wished  me  to  view  it.  I  now  said,  for  the  present,  fare¬ 
well;  and  was  introduced  by  a  professional  gentleman,  to 
the  floor  of  the  supreme  court,  then  in  judgment  assembled, 
in  a  large  and  goodly  building.  I  heard  [34]  but  little 
eloquence,  and  saw  nothing  interesting  about  their  pro¬ 
ceedings;  all  seemed  plain,  simple,  and  undignified,  like 
a  vestry  meeting  in  England.  The  lawyers  or  counsellors 
were  easy  and  colloquial,  and  the  judges  by  no  means 
awful,  nor  in  anywise  distinguished,  but  by  a  higher  bench 
and  a  silk  gown.  The  former  gentlemen  are  both  wigless 


6o 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


and  gownless.  A  wig  is  thought  superfluous,  when  nature 
has  given  hair  to  the  head,  whether  of  a  judge  or  a  barrister. 

io th. —  By  Mr.  Gray  I  was  this  day  introduced  to  the 
most  respectable  bookseller  in  Boston,  in  order  that  he, 
Mr.  Armstrong,  and  others,  might  view  my  friend  Heath’s 
sample  of  English  quarto  Bibles,  of  unequalled  elegance. 
I  sent  them;  but  a  note,  politely  written,  soon  accompanied 
their  return;  stating  that  on  account  of  the  extreme  scar¬ 
city  of  money,  the  gentlemen  declined  purchasing,  but 
wished  to  do  me  service. 

Intending  to  quit  Boston  on  Monday,  Mr.  Lyman  called 
on  me,  and  took  a  formal  leave,  but  wished  me  to  revisit 
him,  now  or  at  a  future  time;  saying  that  his  brother,  a 
large  proprietor  and  farmer  in  the  district  of  Maine, 
wished  to  see  and  communicate  with  me  on  agricultural 
matters.  I  also  called  on,  and  bid  a  final  farewell  to  my 
friend  Mr.  Gray,  who  very  kindly  put  into  my  hand  an  in¬ 
troductory  letter  to  his  bankers  and  agents  at  Charleston, 
with  a  liberal  purse  of  dollars,  which  he  thought  I  should 
need  before  I  [35]  could  arrive  at  my  destination.  This 
purse  was  unsolicited,  and  received  without  absolute  neces¬ 
sity  on  my  part,  and  without  giving  him  any  security  for  it. 
I  took  it  principally  for  the  sake  of  the  singular  confidence 
and  liberality  shewn  in  the  circumstance,  and  for  the  same 
reason  I  here  record  it.  “Take,  sir,”  said  he,  “more 
money.” — “O  this  is  more  than  enough,”  replied  I, — 
“What!  enough?  Take  more,  and  repay  it  at  your  own 
time  and  convenience.  I  shall  be  happy  to  hear  of  your 
happiness  and  safe  arrival;  my  son  and  his  lady  sailed 
last  week  in  one  of  my  best  ships.  I  wish  you  had  come 
in  time  for  it:  you  should  have  sailed  with  him  to  the 
south,  whither  he  is  gone  on  a  tour  of  health.” 

Sunday ,  11  th. —  To  chapel,  once.  Thought  less  meanly 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


61 


of  American  worship  than  on  Sunday  last,  the  sermon  be¬ 
ing  rather  eloquent,  and  containing  something  more  like 
religion.  Sunday  commences  here  on  the  Saturday  eve; 
or,  at  any  rate,  ends  at  sunset  on  the  following  eve. 
Taught  three  of  my  fellow  boarders,  (revenue  captains,) 
good  manners.  They  were  all  standing  spread  out  before 
the  fire,  to  the  complete  exclusion  of  all  around.  I  reached 
two  or  three  chairs  for  them.  They  all  took  the  hint,  and 
were  immediately  seated  at  a  fit  distance  from  the  fire, 
while  all  the  rest  of  the  company  seemed  greatly  amused 
by  the  silent  lecture  which  John  Bull  had  so  smartly  given 
them. 

12 th. —  Left  the  good  Yankee  town  of  Boston,  [36]  this 
morning,  full  of  blessings  on  it  and  America,  but  scarcely 
hoping  to  find  another  Boston,  where  I  wished  a  longer 
stay,  because  people  of  all  ranks  and  colours  are  so  gen¬ 
erally  disposed  to  please  and  be  pleased.  Left  behind  me 
a  letter  of  thanks  to  Captain  Martyn  of  Cape  Ann,  who 
so  generously  snatched  me  out  of  the  vile  and  starving 
Ruthy,  and  kept  and  conveyed  me  well  and  safely  so 
many  miles,  without  charging  or  wishing  to  charge  a  single 
cent.  At  nine,  a.  m.  got  under  weigh  on  board  the  packet 
schooner,  Swiftsure,  for  Charleston,  S.  C.  about  1,000 
miles  passage.  Met  seven  comical  fellow  passengers,  be¬ 
sides  a  country-woman  of  mine,  Miss  Jane  Compere,  an 
ancient  maid,  who  states  that  all  emigrants  with  whom 
she  is  acquainted,  are  disappointed;  but  that  they  settle 
in  an  unfit  neighbourhood.  She  is  going  to  her  reverend 
brother,  a  missionary,  living  at  Bethel  town.  I  learn  from 
her  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Keeling,  late  of  Woburn,  Bucks,  Old 
England,  and  known  to  J.  Ingle,  the  patriarch  of  Somer- 
sham,  is  now  with  his  wife  and  children  settled  in  a  church 
near  Boston,  and  likely  to  succeed.  Many  of  the  followers 


62 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


of  Mr.  Keeling,  who  accompanied  him  thither,  felt  and 
feel  greatly  disappointed. 

The  captain  discovers  a  few  stray  vermin  in  the  cabin, 
and  I,  two  whales  in  sport,  spouting  water  at  each  other. 

1 2th. —  Awoke  this  morning  and  found  myself  [37]  out 
of  sight  of  land,  and  150  miles  from  Boston,  lat.  40°  59'. 
At  nine,  a.  m.  caught  a  fine  fat  halibut,  a  most  valuable 
fish,  weighing  180  pounds;  the  flesh  of  which  partakes  of 
fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  and  is  fit  for  broiling,  frying,  boiling, 
or  stewing. 

14 th. —  The  price  of  passage,  in  this  vessel,  to  Charles¬ 
ton,  is  15  dollars;  to  Havre,  in  France,  100  dollars. 
Picton,  near  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  is  a  good  place  for 
cheapness  of  passage  to  England;  12I.  and  found  in  cabin. 
At  three,  a.  m.  spoke  a  schooner,  the  Eloisa,  1 7  days  from 
New  Orleans,  to  Boston  bound,  requesting  our  latitude 
and  longitude,  and  what  distance  from  the  south  shoal  of 
Nantucket.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  some  of  the  people 
of  this  country,  on  going  to  Charleston,  to  take  their  free 
negroes  with  them  and  sell  them  for  slaves,  by  way  of 
turning  a  penny,  or  as  they  say,  of  making  a  good  spec,  of 
it.  Two  white  gentlemen,  I  was  told,  determined  on  a 
plan  to  benefit  themselves,  and  cheat  the  planter,  or  slave 
buyer;  one  blackened  his  face  and  body  and  became  a 
negro;  the  other  was  his  owner  and  salesman,  and  sold 
his  friend  to  the  planter  for  800  dollars,  but  in  less  than 
three  days  he  returned,  a  white  free-man  again,  to  divide 
the  spoil,  nor  was  the  imposition  ever  discovered  to  prose¬ 
cution.  Our  captain  had  green  peas,  on  the  1st  March, 
in  abundance  at  Charleston.  From  two  passengers, 
(shoemakers),  I  learn  that  first-rate  hands  will  turn  out 
from  five  to  six  pairs  of  [38]  ladies’  shoes,  per  day,  and 
earn  from  10  to  12  dollars  per  week.  One  of  these  gentle- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


63 


men,  a  staunch  republican,  Mr.  Atman,  of  Lynn,  near 
Boston,  and  an  intelligent  man,  says,  in  reference  to  the 
federalists,  that  for  every  Julius  Caesar,  there  is  a 
Brutus. 

1 6th. —  Spoke  a  brig,  the  James  Monroe,  from  New 
Orleans.  Recommended  my  ship-mate,  Mr.  Atman,  to 
read  Mr.  Fearon’s  Sketches ,  which  he  promised  to  do,  but 
learning  they  were  unfavourable  to  America,  he  said  he 
thought  he  should  not  read  them.  My  Yankee  friends 
love  nothing  but  unmixed  flattery.  My  fellow  passengers, 
one  a  colonel,  and  the  rest  of  the  most  respectable  order  of 
the  middle  class,  all  seem  of  uncleanly  manners  and 
habits;  with  unwashed  hands,  and  grossly  indelicate  in 
language.  To  the  honour  however  of  this  section  of  the 
land,  there  seem  few  or  no  idle  hands;  from  the  richest 
down  to  the  poorest,  meanest  citizen,  none  are  seen  eating 
the  bread  of  idleness;  even  my  rich  friends,  Mr.  Lyman 
and  Mr.  Gray,  are  no  exception  to  this  remark.  The 
former  gentleman  is  found  at  his  office  after  dinner,  till 
sunset;  and  the  latter,  by  sunrise  throughout  the  year. 

1 7 th. —  Lat.  36°,  long.  740,  a  beautiful  morning,  after 
much  lightning  and  thunder,  at  six,  a.  m.  when  all  sail 
was  taken  in,  in  expectation  of  a  terrible  squall.  Saw  an 
immense  number  of  dog-fish  round  our  stern. 

[39]  Sunday ,  18/&. —  A  very  warm  dense  fog  to-day,  at 
noon,  and  therefore  unable  to  get  an  observation;  but 
judge  ourselves  to  be  off  Cape  Hatteras,  260  miles  from 
Charleston;  and,  on  sounding,  found  20  fathoms;  saw  four 
sail;  the  wind  very  variable. 

iqth. —  Rose  at  eight  this  morning,  becalmed  in  the  gulf 
stream,  and  therefore  drifting  back  with  the  current,  three 
miles  an  hour.  The  air  and  water  warm  and  steamy,  and 
the  sky  summerish  and  gleamy,  and  ornamented  with 


64 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


huge  pillar-like  thunder-clouds,  from  which  we  saw  one 
small  and  one  very  large  water-spout,  about  one  mile  dis¬ 
tant,  and  dipping  into  the  sea.  It  was  formed  like  a 
tunnel,  bottom  or  tube  upwards.  Nine  of  these  phenom¬ 
ena  are  sometimes  seen  at  once  in  this  tempestuous  lati¬ 
tude,  340  40',  long.  76°,  from  Greenwich.  A  fine  breeze 
immediately  followed  the  bursting  of  these  two  spouts. 

At  midnight  came  on  a  terrific  tempest,  filling  the  hori¬ 
zon  above,  and  the  sea  beneath,  with  blue  forked  lightning, 
and  stunning  the  ear  with  loud-sounding,  crackling,  rat¬ 
tling,  crashing  thunder,  presenting  a  scene  more  sublimely 
horrific  than  I  had  ever  seen;  the  lightning  might  almost 
be  handled,  being  what  our  captain  calls  “ double-twisted 
ropy.”  The  gulf  seemed,  literally,  a  lake  of  boiling  fire 
and  brimstone. 

20 th. —  Warm,  calm,  bright  day,  and  13  sail  in  sight. 
Yankee  sailors,  says  our  captain,  are  now  [40]  so  badly 
paid  (14  dollars  per  month),  that  they  leave  the  sea,  for 
ploughing  land,  and  therefore  half  the  crews  of  our  vessels 
are  composed  of  British  seamen.  I  find  that  watches, 
costing  from  three  and  a  half  dollars  to  20  dollars  each, 
are  selling  at  Massachusetts  from  six  to  30  dollars  each; 
made  in  Geneva,  but  marked  London. 

21  st. —  At  two  this  morning  we  were  providentially  pre¬ 
vented  from  running  our  ship  ashore,  on  those  dangerous 
shoals  off  Cape  Look-out,  by  a  singular  dream  of  the 
captain’s,  who  awoke  much  alarmed  with  the  dream,  in 
which  he  saw  both  sides  of  the  ship  falling  out,  a  com¬ 
plete  wreck.  He  rushed  on  deck,  took  soundings  in  15 
fathoms,  and  again  in  only  nine  fathoms,  just  on  the  edge 
of  these  fearful  shoals,  where,  in  less  than  twenty  minutes, 
we  must,  perhaps,  have  gone  to  pieces,  and  sunk  like  lead 
in  the  mighty  waters.  But  in  all  this  deliverance,  there 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


65 


were  none  who  seemed  to  see  and  acknowledge  the  hand 
of  Omnipotence. 

Now,  120  miles  from  the  city;  spoke  a  schooner,  26  days 
from  North  Carolina,  and  in  distress  for  provisions,  yet 
only  bound  to  Savannah,  about  400  miles  from  her  start¬ 
ing. 

22nd. —  After  safely  passing  Cape  Fear,  again  greeted 
with  the  blessed  sound  of  Land ,  O ;  and  saw  the  beautiful 
isles  round  Charleston  where  I  arrived  at  six,  on  the  eve¬ 
ning  of  this  day;  so  finishing  a  passage  of  112  days,  the 
longest,  perhaps,  ever  known  between  London  and  this 
city.  [41]  Presented  my  kind  introductory  letter  from 
Mr.  W.  Gray  to  Messrs.  Prescot  and  Bishop,  two  eastern 
gentlemen,  who  politely  introduced  me  to  Mr.  Bird, 
landlord  of  the  Planters’  hotel,  where  I  became  immedi¬ 
ately  acquainted  with  the  high-minded  General  Young 
Blood,  then  boarding  at  this  house,  and  on  a  visit  to  the 
city,  to  meet  his  excellency  the  governor,  and  also  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  who,  on  the  morrow,  was 
expected  to  make  his  entry  here.10  The  general  and  I 
became  very  friendly,  and  held  a  long  and  interesting  con¬ 
versation,  and  that  without  a  formal  introduction,  which 
is  generally  held  to  be  indispensable  amongst  almost  all 
ranks  in  this  country.  In  our  politics,  foreign  and  domes¬ 
tic,  we  seemed  one.  At  nine  this  evening,  I  plunged  into 
a  warm  bath  to  wash  off  all  marine  impurities,  paying  for 
it  half  a  dollar.  I  was  then  introduced  by  Mr.  Bishop, 
to  the  grand  hall,  where  his  excellency  is  to  dine  in  public 
next  week,  with  all  the  grandees  of  this  aristocratical 
state.  During  my  walk  to  and  fro,  and  on  my  landing, 
I  felt  immediately  impressed  with  the  respectable,  happy, 

10  For  a  short  account  of  President  Monroe’s  tour,  see  Buttrick’s  Voyages, 
volume  viii  of  our  series,  note  27. —  Ed. 


66 


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[Vol.  ii 


and  healthy  appearance  of  the  slaves,  with  which  the 
city  seems  to  swarm,  and  of  whom  I  have  now  six  or  seven 
males,  and  as  many  females,  in  constant  attendance,  and 
one  or  two  at  all  meals,  surrounding  the  long  table,  waving 
over  it  plumes  of  peacock’s  feathers,  to  fan  away  hungry 
flies  from  eatables  and  eaters.  It  is  commonly  asserted, 
and  maintained,  [42]  that  slaves  are  happier  here  and 
better  off  than  free  blacks.  There  seems,  indeed,  in 
this  city,  no  want  of  happiness  amongst  them. 

2  yd. —  Accompanied  by  my  courteous  and  obliging 
friend,  Mr.  Bishop,  to  my  bankers,  Mess.  Lovent  and 
Wulf,  Germans,  of  high  commercial  repute,  and  to 
Mitchell  King,  Esq.,  now  Judge  King,  a  Scotch  gentleman 
of  high  reputation,  to  whom,  with  several  others  too 
numerous  to  name,  I  brought  letters  of  introduction. 
At  three  o’clock  I  returned  to  my  hotel  to  dinner,  where  I 

again  met,  in  the  chair,  General  Young  Blood,  - 

Watts,  Esq.,  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  French  consul, 
and  many  other  grandees  of  this  state,  civil  and  military. 
Besides  turtle-soup  and  turtle-steaks,  the  number  of  our 
viands  was  to  me  countless,  and  at  present  indescribable; 
and  to  every  plate  stood  two  half-pint  decanters  of  rum, 
brandy,  or  Hollands,  to  drink  at  dinner,  instead  of  ale. 
After  dinner  came  claret,  champaigne,  and  cider,  all  of 
the  best  kind,  for  those  gentlemen  who  gave  an  order  for 
it,  and  to  those  who  did  not,  the  bottle  seemed  to  pass 
with  the  name  of  its  proprietor,  when  both  socially  drank 
to  each  other.  In  the  evening,  after  supper  or  tea,  I  was 
taken  by  -  Prescott,  Esq.,  to  the  grand  new  steam¬ 

ship,  the  Savannah ,  a  beautiful  and  superb  vessel,  then 
about  sailing,  for  the  first  time,  to  Liverpool  and  St. 
Petersburgh. 

24/^. —  Bought  a  piece  of  fine  India  bandanas,  seven 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ^Journal 


67 


in  number,  for  34 s.  Fixed  on  William,  a  [43]  fine  young 
yellow  slave,  as  my  body  guard,  to  attend  my  person 
within  or  without,  and  to  dress  or  undress  if  neces¬ 
sary.  He  so  offered  himself,  agreeable  to  the  custom  of 
this  establishment,  and  is  considered  always  at  command 
and  faithful  to  his  trust.  The  population  of  this  warm 
city  seems  above  half  black  and  yellow.  Called  on  the 
venerable  Nathaniel  Russell,  Esq.,  residing  in  a  splendid 
mansion,  surrounded  by  a  wilderness  of  flowers,  and 
bowers  of  myrtles,  oranges,  and  lemons,  smothered  with 
fruit  and  flowers.  This  gentleman  is  near  90  years  old, 
very  courteous  and  friendly,  and  willing  to  give  any  assist¬ 
ance  in  promoting  the  object  of  my  mission,  being  the 
original  trustee  to  the  estate  of  my  late  matrimonial 
uncles,  Rowland  and  Henry  Rugely,  Esqrs.  These  gen¬ 
tlemen  were  merchants  here  and  in  London,  previous  to 
the  American  revolution,  in  which  they  bravely  fought 
as  colonels  under  Lord  Cornwallis.  The  former,  Row¬ 
land,  a  poet  of  some  celebrity,  died  a  natural  death  in 
this  city,  and  the  latter  (Henry)  at  Potton  Beds.  Old 
England  lost  in  them  two  generous  fellows,  of  whom  I 
shall  hereafter  say  more. 

Sunday  25 th. —  Conducted  by  Mr.  Bird  to  the  seat  of 
Patrick  Duncan,  Esq.,  a  Scotsman,  who  emigrated  36 
years  since,  and  is  now  the  head  of  a  bank  in  this  city. 
He  is  a  rich,  knowing  old  gentleman,  living  in  a  garden  of 
the  choicest  flowers  and  fruits,  breaking  down  the  trees 
with  their  [44]  weight.  Although,  nine  days  ago,  I  was 
freezing  amidst  an  icy,  snowy  winter,  yet  here  is  summer 
in  all  her  gay  luxuriance,  and  down  every  street  is  the 
Pride  of  India  (a  tree  so  called)  in  full  flowery  perfection, 
forming  an  ornamental  colonnade  on  every  side.  Met 
and  parted  with  Dr.  Osgood,  a  physician  of  Boston.  He 


68 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


kindly  left  me  introductory  letters  to  two  of  his  friends 
here,  a  physician  and  a  counsellor,  each  in  his  profession, 
the  most  eminent  man  in  the  city. 

26 th. —  Met  my  countryman,  G.  Beale  Brown,  Esq. 
of  the  respectable  firm  of  Bainbridge  and  Brown,  London, 
and  gave  him  my  introductory  letter  from  England. 
Thought  him  a  clever,  smart,  and  efficient  young  gentle¬ 
man,  willing  to  further  the  interests  of  my  mission. 
Walked  several  miles  on  a  dusty,  sandy  road,  under  a 
scorching  sun,  in  expectation  of  seeing  and  meeting  his 
excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  who,  this 
morning,  made  his  public  entry  into  this  city.  But  he 
passed  by  me  in  the  tumultuous  crowd,  quite  unobserved. 
So  many  civil  and  military  characters,  more  imposing  in 
figure,  quite  eclipsed  the  supreme  magistrate.  We  there¬ 
fore  returned  as  we  went.  By  Mr.  Bishop,  introduced  to 
two  noble  young  fellows,  Mr.  Richmond  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Mr.  Dodge  of  Providence,  who  kindly  pressed  me  to 
visit  them  in  the  north. 

27 th. —  Promenaded  round  the  city  with  Mr.  Brown, 
who  introduced  me  to  F.  Fleming,  Esq.,  [45]  and  to  the 
respectable  firm  of  Messrs.  Broadfoot  and  M’Neale. 

2 8th. —  After  rising  this  morning,  from  my  hot  and 
feverish  bed,  I  found,  by  the  inflammatory  eruptions  on 
my  hands,  legs,  and  feet,  that  I  had  been  stung  by  the 
mosquitoes,  which,  in  New  Orleans,  are  said  to  kill  more 
men  than  the  pestilence;  as  a  remedy,  I  bathed  the  parts 
stung  and  swollen  in  brandy,  and,  at  noon,  took  a  warm 
bath.  A  leno  net,  fine  as  a  lady’s  veil,  surrounded  my 
bed  in  future,  and  protected  me  from  these  midnight 
blood-thirsty  assassins,  which  seldom  annoyed  me  more. 

May  1  st. —  A  waggoner,  on  the  day  of  the  president’s 
entry  to  this  city,  was  commanded,  by  the  military,  to 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


69 


move  out  of  the  road,  and  give  place  to  the  coming  show. 
4  Tray/’  said  he,  ‘  ‘by  what  authority  do  you  stop  me  ?  — 
It  is  more  than  the  president  dare  do.  Shew  me  your 
authority.  If  you  had  civilly  asked  me,  I  would  have 
driven  into  the  ditch  to  obleege  you.”  During  the  few 
days  spent  here,  several  robberies,  burglaries,  and  attempts 
at  murder,  have  disgraced  and  alarmed  this  city.  In  the 
street  where  I  sleep,  for  two  nights  successively,  our  slum¬ 
bers  have  been  disturbed  by  the  cries  of  murder !  At  the 
theatre,  a  gentleman  has  been  stabbed  by  a  Spaniard. 
This  morning  presented  a  poor  fellow  lying  all  night 
until  nine,  a.  m.  in  the  street,  in  a  hot,  broiling  sun,  iio° 
by  the  thermometer.  He  was  found  nearly  [46]  murdered, 
having  his  legs  both  broken,  and  otherwise  terribly  bruised 
about  his  head  and  breast,  and  robbed  of  all  he  had,  15 
dollars.  To  the  disgrace  of  the  nightly  watch  and  city 
centinels,  and  to  the  open  day  humanity  of  the  citizens, 
here  was  he  suffered  to  lie,  saturated  with  pestilential  dew, 
and,  in  the  day,  left  to  roast  and  be  devoured  by  flies, 
until  an  old  Prussian  colonel  offered  a  dollar  to  have  him 
removed  as  a  nuisance,  too  disgusting  to  delicate  nerves 
and  sensibilities.  Mr.  Brown,  a  landlord  in  Church 
Street,  then  called  out  to  two  black  men,  ‘  ‘Here,  June  and 
July,  come  and  assist,  and  tell  August  to  help  you.” 
These  three  men  were  so  named ;  and  but  for  them  and  the 
colonel,  the  poor  forsaken  sufferer  must  have  taken  three 
months,  literally,  to  effect  his  removal. 

Sunday ,  2nd. —  Went  in  grand  procession  to  the  elegant 
Scotch  church,  where  I  met,  and  was  seated  near  his 
excellency  the  President,  James  Monroe,  Esq,  an  amiable, 
mild-looking  gentleman,  of  about  60,  dressed  in  a  common 
hat,  plain  blue  coat  with  gilt  buttons,  yellow  kerseymere 
waistcoat,  drab  breeches  and  white  silk  stockings,  and 


7° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  n 


a  little  powder  in  his  hair,  just  a  sober  grey.  His  eyes 
beam  with  an  expansive  kindness,  gentleness,  and  liber¬ 
ality,  not  often  seen  in  persons  of  his  elevated  station, 
and  his  physiognomy,  viewed  as  a  whole,  announces  a 
noble,  well- judging,  and  generous  mind. 

[47]  3 rd. —  Paid  my  hotel  bill,  28  dollars  and  a  half  for 
11  days.  The  business  of  the  bar-keeper,  an  influential 
character,  seems  to  be,  to  make  a  bill.  One  bottle  of 
madeira,  in  the  bill,  more  than  I  ordered  or  drank.  It  is 
charged  2  dollars  or  gs.  sterling  a  bottle,  and  cider  half  a 
dollar,  the  finest  in  the  world,  and  first  cousin  to  cham- 
paigne;  it  is  made  in  the  north.  Strong  cider  is  procured 
thus:  set  out  a  large  cask,  during  winter,  until  the  whole 
body  seems  frozen;  then  bore  into  its  centre,  from  which 
runs  an  unfreezable  quantity,  highly  spirituous.  It  is 
then  bottled  and  closely  corked,  and  in  summer  comes 
forth,  the  pure  sparkling  soul  of  the  barrel.  Parted  with 
Mr.  Richmond  for  the  north,  a  sober,  sensible,  honour¬ 
able  man. 

5 th. —  Wrote  to  J.  Ingle  in  Illinois,  and  to  my  cousin, 
Major  Rugely,  of  Camden,  S.  Carolina,  apprizing  them 
of  my  intended  visit.  General  Young  Blood,  the  lieu¬ 
tenant  governor  of  this  state,  took  his  leave  of  us  this  morn¬ 
ing  for  his  country  seat.  Introduced  this  day  by  my 

friend,  Colonel  M’Kinnon,  to  a  young  gentleman, - 

Edwards,  Esq.  of  Savannah,  and  others,  who,  with  the 
young  colonel,  had  all  there  met  as  gay  proud  birds  of  a 
feather;  men,  I  mean,  who,  in  duels,  had  killed  their  man 
each ! ! 

6th. —  Colonel  M’Kinnon  was  this  day  refused  claret 
at  dinner.  The  landlord  was  called  to  account  for  so 
refusing,  and  instructing  the  bar-keeper.  He  appeared, 
and  said,  “You,  colonel,  [48]  have  referred  me  to  your 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


71 


father  for  payment  of  your  bill  of  250  dollars,  contracted 
here  during  the  last  three  weeks,  but  he  says  he  cannot 
and  will  not  pay  any  more  for  you.  And  that  I  know 
from  your  father’s  friend,  Captain  Bell  of  the  ship  Homer, 
now  in  port.”  After  this,  the  colonel  looked  thoughtful, 
and  requested  I  would  accompany  him  to  the  captain. 
I  did  so.  After  the  captain  had  politely  spread  out  his 
brandy,  the  colonel,  with  pistols  in  his  hand,  said,  “If 
you  will  not  meet  me  I  will  shoot  you  instantly.”  The 
captain,  with  an  angry  laugh,  replied,  “O  fear  not!  I 
am  ready  with  either  sword  or  pistol,  and  to-morrow 
morning,  at  ten,  expect  me  at  the  hotel.”  He  fulfilled 
his  promise,  but  the  colonel  had  cooled  and  fled.  After 
our  return  from  the  ship,  the  colonel  wanted  to  shoot  the 
landlord,  and  then  attempted  to  shoot  himself,  but  had 
no  prime.  He  then  begged  round  for  prime,  but  could 
get  none.  I  endeavoured  to  reason  with  him,  but  with 
as  much  effect  as  with  a  woman  possessed  with  seven 
devils.  “I  have  a  right,  sir,”  said  he,  “to  do  as  Brutus 
did.  ‘What  Cato  did,  and  Addison  approved,  cannot  be 
wrong.’  I  am  a  blasted  lily  and  a  blighted  heath.”  This 
young  gentleman,  naturally  witty  and  highly  gifted,  has 
married  and  abandoned  three  wives,  and  yet  is  only  22 
years  of  age. 

7 th. —  Visited  the  supreme  court,  over  which  preside 
six  judges  on  the  bench,  but,  from  my  [49]  not  under¬ 
standing  the  nature  of  the  cases  under  consideration,  the 
speeches  of  the  several  young  advocates  seemed  jargon, 
and  little  short  of  nonsense.  In  court  I  met  Patrick 
Duncan,  Esq.,  who  knew  a  young  gentleman,  who  once 
bought  a  negro  wench,  the  only  slave  he  ever  purchased; 
but,  at  his  death,  his  heirs  divided  70  slaves  amongst 
them,  all  her  offspring  and  posterity,  during  a  period  of 


72 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


only  35  years.  Increase  and  multiply  is  here  the  grand 
first  order  of  the  day.  Two  men  were  this  day  sentenced 
to  die;  one  for  the  murder  of  a  white  man,  and  the  other 
for  stealing  a  negro.  A  man  may,  here,  murder  a  negro 
almost  with  impunity,  or  by  paying  a  paltry  fine  to  the 
state;  but,  if  he  steals  one,  he  must  be  hanged  for  it,  and 
almost  without  benefit  of  clergy. 

I  find,  that  James  Gregory,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  to  whom 
I  brought  an  introductory  letter,  stands  at  present  much 
in  the  way  of  my  mission.  Visited  Judge  King,  my  con¬ 
stant  friend  and  adviser.  He  came  hither  from  lean- 
landed  Scotland,  bringing  nothing  with  him  but  his  ca¬ 
pacities.  He  began  as  a  schoolmaster,  but,  during  his 
leisure  hours,  gained  a  knowledge  of  law,  in  which,  though 
not  great  as  an  orator,  he  has  become  eminent  as  an  advo¬ 
cate  and  judge,  because  he  is  wise,  honest,  and  good.  He 
came  hither  in  his  own  proper  name  of  Michael  Kinggo, 
which,  at  the  request  of  his  American  friends,  he  changed 
into  Mitchel  King,  [50]  his  right  name  being  obnoxious 
to  national  prejudices. 

Sunday ,  9 th. —  Accompanied  Mrs.  Atkins,  a  country¬ 
woman  of  mine,  once  of  St.  Ives,  a  lady  of  good  fortune, 
and  amiable  mind  and  manners,  to  the  new  Episcopal 
church,  to  which  a  female  friend  of  hers  has  subscribed 
4,000  dollars.  Met  a  small  genteel  auditory,  in  a  splendid 
edifice;  but  the  parson  seemed  dull.  He  prayed  not  for 
George  IV.,  but  for  the  President;  nor  for  lords  temporal 
and  spiritual  in  parliament  assembled,  but  for  the  con¬ 
gress,  &c.  I  walked  nearly  all  day  through  a  dissolving 
heat,  and  thought  myself  the  better  for  it.  So  necessary 
is  exercise  to  the  continuance  of  health. 

10^. —  Leaving  Planters’  hotel  for  a  season,  I  took  my 
place  in  the  Columbia  mail,  15  dollars  for  70  miles,  and 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  ^Journal 


73 


slept  at  the  mail-house.  Met  several  travellers  who  knew 
my  friends  in  the  interior,  and  found  them  talkative  and 
agreeable  on  subjects  interesting  to  me,  after  I  had  told 
them  who  I  was,  what  I  was,  whither  going,  and  for  what 
purpose. 

12 th. —  At  four  this  morning  we  left  the  city  by  the 
mail,  four  in  hand,  and  drove  on  to  a  team-boat,  worked 
by  eight  horses,  by  which  we  were  ferried  over  the  Ashley 
river,  large  and  broad  as  the  Thames.  We  soon  entered 
what  seemed  to  be  an  interminable  forest,  and  rode  28 
miles  to  breakfast,  in  company  with  his  Excellency  J. 
Geddiss,  Esq.,11  [51]  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  an  Irish 
gentleman  of  much  style,  but  apparently  of  easy,  kind, 
sociable  and  polite  manners.  We  met  accidentally;  and 
he  presided  at  table,  frequently  helping  and  inviting  me 
to  beefsteak,  chicken,  cakes,  coffee  and  tea,  for  which  we 
paid  three  quarters  of  a  dollar.  We  passed  a  large  deep 
black-looking  pond,  on  the  banks  of  which  are  sometimes 
seen  as  many  as  ten  huge  alligators,  ten  feet  along.  A 
puppy  carried  thither  and  made  to  cry,  calls  them  instantly 
up  from  the  bottom  of  the  pond,  when  they  seize  and  eat 
it,  as  they  would  the  carriers,  if  they  remained.  I  saw 
no  plantation  on  which  I  should  like  to  live;  but  the  best 
are  not  viewed  from  the  road.  Many,  however,  I  ob¬ 
served  cleared,  cultivated,  worn  out,  and  abandoned,  with 
their  houses  burnt  down,  or  otherwise  in  ruins.  Passed, 
during  the  day,  General  Young  Blood  and  other  gentle- 
men-travellers,  who  all  invariably  bowed  politely  to  me 
and  to  my  fellow-travellers.  On  inquiring  the  cause  of  this 

11  John  Geddes  (1773-1828)  was  the  son  of  a  Charleston  merchant,  and  was 
graduated  from  Charleston  College.  Studying  law,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  From  1810-14  he  was  speaker  of  the  state  house  of  representatives,  and 
governor  of  South  Carolina  1818-20.  Upon  retiring  from  the  governorship,  he 
was  appointed  brigadier-general  of  the  state  militia. —  Ed. 


74 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


bowing  to  strangers,  I  was  given  to  understand  that  this 
state  boasts  of  a  supereminent  degree  of  civilization.  We 
slept  and  supped  at  a  farm-house,  on  roast  leg  of  pork  hot, 
price  for  all,  one  dollar;  but  we  longed  for  some  of  the 
many  squirrels  and  other  game  which  we  passed  all  day. 

13th. —  This  day’s  journey  of  80  miles  lies  through  a 
valley  of  sand,  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  sea,  and  without 
any  hills,  stones,  or  pebbles  [52]  on  its  surface.  Roused 
at  two  this  morning  from  my  refreshing  bed  in  the  bosom 
of  this  vast  wilderness,  which,  during  the  night,  seems 
awfully  dark  and  still.  Intermitting  sounds  are,  however, 
heard,  something  like  the  noise  of  a  distant  waterfall,  and 
produced  (a  poet  would  say)  by  the  trees  becoming  vocal 
and  talking  all  together. 

Language  is  inadequate  to  describe  a  journey  through 
this  interesting,  romantic,  fantastic  forest.  At  one  time 
the  eye  beholds  large  fleets  or  groves  of  naked  masts,  trees 
which  have  been  girdled,  and  by  time  stripped  of  all  their 
bark:  at  another,  roads  apparently  conducting  to  the 
houses  of  great  men;  spots,  too  beautiful  for  description, 
into  which  the  traveller  enters  by  infinite  serpentine  wind¬ 
ings.  To  find  what  ?  Miserable  negro  huts,  and  negroes, 
(if  by  night)  with  blazing  torches  in  their  hands.  The 
roads  and  paths  are  so  constantly  and  suddenly  winding, 
and  withal  so  beautiful,  that  common  mortals  might  fear 
to  proceed  further,  expecting  to  meet  some  mighty  prince 
or  celestial  spirit  in  these  sacred  haunts;  or  perhaps  some 
gigantic  monster,  rushing  out  of  these  dark  shades  to  anni¬ 
hilate  all.  Imagination  is  here  highly  and  almost  fear¬ 
fully  excited.  It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to  rid  one’s  self 
of  the  idea  that  one  is  certainly  moving  into  some  castle 
or  palace,  by  favourite  concealed  paths,  ornamented  with 
magnolias.  An  archbishop  seems  consecrating  the  spot; 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


75 


but,  as  I  approach  nearer,  I  find  [53]  the  most  reverend 
father  is  only  the  black  stump  of  a  burnt  tree,  variegated 
with  ashes.  Immense  snakes,  alligators,  and  hydras, 
appear  in  burnt  serpentine  arms  of  trees,  waiting  to  fall 
on  and  destroy  the  poor  traveller.  But  it  is  impossible 
to  convey  a  just  idea  of  the  beauties  and  deceptions  of 
these  singular  regions. 

A  little  before  sunset,  this  day,  we  crossed  the  fine 
river  Wateree,  a  little  below  its  falls  and  rocks.  On  the 
banks  of  this  river,  stands  Columbia,  the  capital  of  South 
Carolina,  and  the  seat  of  a  flourishing  university.  Here, 
too,  my  friend,  Governor  Geddiss,  sits  enthroned  as  king 
over  his  parliament  or  state  government  annually  assem¬ 
bled.  I  sup  and  sleep  at  the  house  and  sumptuous  table 
of  Mr.  Randolph,  where  for  the  present  I  say  good  night. 

14 th. —  At  breakfast,  I  found  five  or  six  sorts  of  bread, 
hot  and  cold,  with  boiled  rice  and  hominy ,  Indian  corn 
husked  and  boiled.  Visited  the  university  and  its  presi¬ 
dent’s  house;  Dr.  Maxwell  is  the  head.  There  are  here 
125  students  who  are  very  disorderly,  frequently  disturb¬ 
ing  congregations  on  the  Sunday,  because  the  Doctor  is 
too  idle  to  preach,  and  thereby  keep  them  together.  Saw 
several  of  these  learned  young  gentlemen  stretched  on  a 
table,  with  their  learned  legs  carelessly  hanging  out  of 
their  chamber  windows,  which  seemed  nearly  all  broken. 
Want  of  discipline  is  here  too  palpable,  but  there  is  no 
lack  [54]  of  whiskey.  In  company  with  the  ladies  of  Mr. 
Randolph’s  family,  I  attended  a  lecture  given  at  the  house 
of  the  minister,  an  able  man,  who  very  impressively  said, 
‘  ‘The  Christian  must  swear  on  the  altar  of  his  God  never 
to  forgive  sin;  never  to  be  its  friend;  as  did  Hannibal 
against  the  Romans.” 

i$th. —  I  left  sweet  Columbia  this  morning,  well  pleased 


76 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


with  the  compliment  paid  to  me  and  my  distant  country, 
by  Captain  Strode,  now  here  on  a  visit  from  Fayette-Ville, 
who  entrusted  to  me,  though  a  perfect  stranger  to  him 
and  all  here,  an  unsealed  letter  full  of  cash  for  his  lady, 
to  whom  I  was  requested  to  forward  it  by  the  first  safe 
conveyance.  “Before  my  marriage,”  said  the  captain, 
‘  ‘I  had  a  splendid  carriage  and  a  pair  of  the  finest  horses 
in  the  world,  given  me  by  a  friend,  but  now  gifts  are  few 
and  unwanted.”  He  seems  to  love  his  old  mother-coun¬ 
try,  and  says,  “I  think  king,  lords,  and  commons  to  be 
the  best  system  of  government  for  old  England,  if  the 
commons  were  but  good  and  faithful.” 

Arrived  at  fair  Camden  at  six  o’clock,  p.  m.12  First 
and  again  crossed  the  Wateree  river,  in  the  stage,  on  a  flat. 
Called  on  I.  K.  Douglas,  Esq.,  who  was  not  at  home. 
Took  a  hasty  view  of  this  good  and  growing  town,  sacred 
to  revolutionary  blood  and  battles,  and  where  my  uncle 
Henry,  the  loyal  British  colonel,  lived,  loved,  fought,  ran 
away,  and  lived  to  fight  another  day. 

Sunday ,  16th. —  Called  a  second  time  at  the  [55]  man¬ 
sion  of  Mr.  Douglas;  not  at  home.  I  thought  myself 
slighted,  but  found,  on  meeting  him  at  the  Presbyterian 
church,  that  I  was  mistaken.  He  had  called  at  my  hotel, 
and  waited  at  the  church-door  for  me,  where  he  kindly 
engaged  to  drive,  or  find  guard,  horses,  and  carriage,  to 
conduct  me,  to  his  and  my  late  uncle’s  friend,  General 
Cantey.  From  two  gentlemen  present,  I  learned  many 
anecdotes  of  my  uncle,  Colonel  Rugeley.  He  was  a 
favourite  royalist,  but  often  hesitated;  yet,  by  the  advice 
and  reasoning  of  his  friend,  Colonel  Chesnut,  (lately 

12  The  battle  of  Camden  was  fought  August  16,  1780.  General  Gates, 
with  about  3,600  men,  was  badly  defeated  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  commanding 
between  2,000  and  2,500  British  troops.  The  Americans  lost  nearly  700  men, 
and  Baron  de  Kalb  was  fatally  wounded. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


77 


dead)  it  was  mutually  agreed,  that  Colonel  Rugeley,  being 
a  man  of  influence,  and  then  the  richest  of  the  British, 
should  remain  true  to  his  party,  and  that  Colonel  Chesnut 
should  adhere  to  the  side  of  the  rebels,  in  order  that  each 
might  be  useful  to  the  country,  and  serve  the  sufferers  on 
both  sides,  which  they  did  in  an  eminent  degree,  during 
that  long  day  of  trial  and  unnatural  strife.  Attended  three 
times  this  day,  at  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  churches, 
where  I  met  small  congregations,  little  talent,  and,  as  I 
thought,  less  devotion. 

Very  politely  waited  on  and  invited  to  ride,  this  eve¬ 
ning,  with  five  young,  dashing,  generous  Carolinians,  who 
all  came  on  horseback,  with  a  horse  in  their  hand  for  me, 
in  order  to  shew  me  fields  of  revolutionary  battles,  and 
the  solitary  house  which  Lord  Cornwallis  made  his  head¬ 
quarters,  during  the  battle  of  Camden. 

M 1  saw,  with  some  surprise,  churches  and  the  tombs 
of  citizens,  all  exposed  on  the  common,  uninclosed,  and 
without  a  grave-yard;  as  though  man  had  died  accident¬ 
ally  and  was  buried  in  like  manner.  Some  graves  were 
distinguished  by  shrubs,  laurels,  and  flowers,  planted  on 
them,  and  had  rails  around  them,  to  prevent  swine  and 
cattle  from  offering  indignities  to  the  dead,  who  here 
seem  to  slumber  in  unregretted  forgetfulness.  But  it  is 
patriarchal  “to  bury  my  dead  out  of  my  sight.” 

Negro's  food. —  All  that  some  planters  deem  necessary 
is  one  peck  of  corn-meal  and  a  little  salt  for  an  adult,  and 
six  quarts  for  a  child,  without  either  milk  or  bacon.  Such 
is  the  allowance  for  a  whole  week !  What  gluttony !  What 
extravagance  in  a  land  of  scarcity!  Famine  surely  is  at 
hand. 

17 th. —  With  a  handsome  introductory  epistle  from  Mr. 
Douglas,  I  met  General  Cantey,  Captain  Cantey,  and 


78 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


ladies,  at  one  of  his  mansions,  seven  miles  off  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  on  a  beautiful  plantation  of  several  thousand  acres 
of  cotton  and  corn,  and  full  of  well-treated  negroes.  I 
went  thither  on  horseback,  attended  by  a  horseman  (a 
slave  of  Mr.  Douglas)  riding  behind  me,  and  remaining 
with  me  all  night  until  I  returned.  Graciously  and  heart¬ 
ily  received  and  entertained  by  the  hospitable  general, 
who  was  a  prisoner  to  the  British  during  the  revolution, 
and  was  very  rudely  treated.  He  is  one  of  the  finest  old 
fellows  I  have  met  with  [57]  in  the  South.  “I  once,” 
said  he,  “told  Colonel  Rugeley  that  I  thought  we  rebels 
should  succeed.”  “What!  they  succeed?”  rejoined  the 
colonel,  “Aye!  you  may  as  well  expect  the  sky  will  fall, 
to  catch  larks.”  What  a  miserable  prophecy,  my  uncle! 
How  soon  didst  thou  find  thyself  mistaken,  and  fly,  a 
refugee,  to  the  West  Indies,  to  return  no  more,  until  all 
was  peace  and  pure  republicanism. 

1 8th. —  A  splendid  breakfast  this  morning,  with  the 
general,  of  tea  and  coffee,  flowing  from  the  most  elegant 
urns  of  silver,  and  other  vessels  of  corresponding  beauty 
and  costliness.  Returned  to  Camden  after  viewing  the 
plantation,  on  which  I  saw  a  small  village  of  negro-huts 
well  peopled,  and,  in  the  garden,  a  long  and  beautiful 
dark  bowery  walk,  formed  by  grape-vines,  laden  with 
fruit.  Visited  Messieurs  M’Caws’  store,  where  I  saw 
British  broad-cloths,  second  quality,  costing  seven,  and 
selling  at  ten  dollars,  or  455.  per  yard.  “A  mighty  fine 
price!”  At  a  late  hour  this  evening,  came  an  invitation 
from  Mr.  Douglas,  forbidding  my  departure  on  the  ensu¬ 
ing  morning,  and  insisting  on  my  company  to  dinner  at 
his  house,  with  General  Cantey  and  family,  and  a  large 
and  splendid  circle  of  friends.  I,  being  nothing  loth, 
obediently  complied. 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  Journal 


79 


19 th. —  Dined,  this  day,  at  four,  p.  m.  at  the  elegant 
and  hospitable  table  of  Mr.  Douglas,  where  I  met  Gen¬ 
eral  and  Captain  Cantey,  and  ladies,  and  [58]  James  S. 
Day,  Esq.  a  Yankee,  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  supe¬ 
rior  men  I  have  ever  seen  in  this  or  in  any  country. 
He  married  a  daughter  of  the  late  Colonel  Chesnut,  an 
old  friend  of  my  late  uncle,  and  received  a  fortune  of 
25,000 /.  with  his  lady.  His  attentions  to  me  were  very 
marked  and  kindly  distinguishing.  I  know  not  that  I 
have  ever  met  with  in  any  other  man,  so  happy  a  stock 
of  ideas,  and  so  appropriate  and  pleasant  a  flow  of 
language,  with  which  to  express  and  adorn  them.  Our 
table  was  rich,  and  groaned  with  a  variety  of  viands,  wines, 
and  cordials,  finely  coloured.  Many  fine  fruits  garnish 
the  table  and  tempt  the  palate  in  Carolina.  The  whole 
of  our  dinner  party  retired  to  the  neighbouring  house  of 
Mr.  Martin,  to  tea  and  coffee,  where  the  number  of  our 
ladies  was  quadrupled.  The  mode  of  spending  the  eve¬ 
ning  is  here  highly  interesting.  No  cards  nor  any  species 
of  gaming  are  introduced;  but  the  ladies,  as  all  are  con¬ 
noisseurs  in  music,  take  in  turn  the  grand  piano,  and  play 
and  sing  to  it  delightfully;  while  conversation  goes  round 
in  tete  a  tete  groups,  as  though  the  voice  of  music  were 
not  heard.  At  a  rather  late  hour  the  party  breaks  up; 
none  of  the  ladies  walked  home,  but  their  family  chariots 
were  thick  in  waiting  round  the  door,  and  into  them 
were  all  led  with  great  homage  and  attention,  yet  without 
any  formality.  Thus  they  meet  and  part,  pleasing  and 
well  pleased  with  each  other. 

20 th. —  Just  as  I  was  mounting  my  carriage  and  [59] 
leaving  Camden,  Mr.  Douglas  called  to  say  that  he  had 
engaged  me  to  ride  over  the  rich  and  matchless  planta¬ 
tions  of -  M’Cray,  Esq.  in  company  with  the  pro- 


t 


80  Early  Western  Travels  [Vol.  n 

prietor,  Mr.  Day  and  Mr.  Weatherspoon,  who  all  waited 
on  me  at  my  hotel  for  that  purpose.  I  found  from  1,000 
to  2,000  acres  planted  with  cotton  and  corn,  and  all  in  a 
state  of  high  cultivation  on  a  gardening  system.  Cotton 
in  good  times  is  worth  ioo  dollars,  or  2 2I.  10 s.  an  acre, 
and  costs  25  dollars,  or  5/.  12s.  6 d.  This  gentleman 
(M’Cray)  derives  a  net  profit  of  10,000/.  to  12,000 /.  ster¬ 
ling  a  year,  and  is  the  proprietor  of  5,000  acres  of  valuable 
land.  General  Cantey  possesses  30,000  acres.  Their 
black  cattle  (alias  slaves)  do  not  breed  freely,  but  destroy 
their  young  in  embryo,  because  they  are  slaves,  but  still 
they  are  considered  to  be  the  best  cattle  kept.  Their 
treatment  appears  to  be  humane;  their  day’s  work  or 
task  being  done  by  one  o’clock,  if  they  labour  well.  Their 
condition  seems  in  some  respects  better  than  that  of  the 
paupers  of  my  native  land.  It  is  said  that  the  blacks  are 
unconscious  of  any  degradation,  but  of  the  truth  of  this 
assertion  I  greatly  doubt.  The  planters  generally  pro¬ 
fess  to  abhor  the  force  and  cruelty  of  the  task-master  or 
overseer,  but  still  think  both  indispensable,  and  that  their 
estates  could  not  be  cultivated  without  them. 

This  evening,  in  consequence  of  a  polite  card  of  invi¬ 
tation  from  the  stewards  or  managers,  Captain  Cantey, 
and  J.  M’Caw,  M.  D.,  I  attended  a  [60]  gay  and  glitter¬ 
ing  hymeneal  ball  of  the  gentry  of  this  town  and  neigh¬ 
bourhood.  Soon  after  the  marriage  of  any  couple  of  dis¬ 
tinction,  it  is  customary  for  the  bachelors  to  give  a  ball  to 
the  recently  wedded  pair.  The  ladies  were  almost  all 
interesting  in  person  and  manners,  and  superbly  dressed; 
and  it  was  said,  sure  of  large  and  good  fortunes. 

21  st. —  Paid  my  bill,  16  dollars,  and  quitted  Camden, 
where  many  flattering  marks  of  respect  constantly  attended 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


81 


me.  I  wrote  a  few  notes,  expressive  of  my  gratitude,  and 
of  my  most  sincere  desire  to  return  all  their  kindness. 

I  now  re-entered  the  wilderness,  in  which  both  myself 
and  guides  were  several  times  lost;  but,  at  length,  found 
my  destination,  the  lone  log-house  and  plantation  of  my 
cousin,  Major  Rowland  Rugeley,  eldest  son  of  the  late 
Colonel  H.  Rugeley.  He  was  not  at  home,  but  his  wife, 
a  young  thoughtful  woman,  with  two  babes,  received  me 
kindly,  and,  in  a  patriarchal  style,  found  food  for  me  and 
my  guides,  and  provender  for  our  beasts.  The  house  has 
only  three  rooms;  no  chambers  nor  any  windows  of  glass. 
To  my  hostess  I  was  quite  a  stranger,  and  kept  myself  so 
a  considerable  time.  I  merely  said,  that  I  supposed  her 
quiet  was  seldom  disturbed  by  the  approach  of  a  strange 
guest  like  me.  “Strangers,”  said  she,  “sometimes  call 
for  refreshment,  because  this  house  was  once  open  for 
their  accommodation.”  “Where,”  said  I,  [61]  “is  Mr. 
Rugeley?”  She  artlessly  replied,  “He  is  gone  to  the 
bank  at  Columbia,  to  get  money  if  he  can ;  for  he  is  unable 
to  sell  the  crop  of  cotton,  and  is  therefore  much  harassed 
for  money.”  ‘  Where  lives  Mr.  Henry  Rugeley  ?”  ‘  ‘He, 
sir,  lives  near;  both  families  have  long  been  accustomed 
to  drink  at  the  same  spring.”  I  felt  delighted  with  this 
primitive  simplicity;  it  seemed  to  carry  me  back  to  the 
beginning  of  time.  I  now  gave  her  my  introductory  letter 
from  her  aunt,  Mrs.  S.  Rugeley  of  Potton,  in  Old  England, 

relict  of  the  late  -  Rugeley,  Esq.  high  sheriff  of 

Bedfordshire.  She  read  it;  the  secret  was  now  out;  I  was 
no  longer  a  stranger;  she  seemed  highly  pleased,  and  said, 
“How  happy  will  Mr.  Rugeley  be  to  see  you!” 

22nd. —  Major  Rugeley,  during  the  last  night,  returned; 
and  this  morning  he  received  me,  a  welcome  guest.  He 


82 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


spread  a  table  full  of  good  things  for  me  in  the  wilderness, 
and  well  garnished  it  with  ingenuous  kindness.  I  was 
immediately  at  home  and  treated  as  one  of  the  family. 
After  breakfast  we  rode  to  the  house  of  his  brother,  Capt. 
H.  Rugeley,  a  sprightly  young  planter  with  a  young  wife, 
two  babes,  and  14  negroes,  all  his  own.  Returned  and 
dined  with  both,  very  patriarchally.  Met  several  ladies 
and  gentlemen  of  the  wilderness. 

Rugeley  anecdotes. —  Our  uncle,  the  late  Rowland 
Rugeley,  Esq.  the  facetious  poet,  and  much-loved  com¬ 
panion  of  the  ducal  family  of  Montagu,  married  a  beau¬ 
tiful  but  poor  girl,  and  both  soon  [62]  after  died  of  the 
yellow  fever,  within  a  month  of  each  other. 

Before,  in,  and  after  the  long  revolutionary  war,  the 
late  Colonel  Rugeley  lived  one  of  the  most  esteemed  of 
men.  Although  on  the  British  side,  he  was  thought  to 
be  an  American  at  heart;  and  his  extensive  influence,  as 
a  first  settler  at  Camden,  was  generously  exerted  in  doing 
good,  and  procuring  mercy  for  and  from  both  parties. 
His  good  opinion  and  favourable  representation,  were  life 
and  salvation  to  hundreds  on  both  sides,  often  under  con¬ 
fiscation  and  sentence  of  death,  the  fruits  of  a  hasty  court- 
martial.  Many  Americans  when  taken  prisoners  by  the 
British,  were  suffered  to  be  at  large  on  their  parole  of 
honour,  never  to  fight  more;  but  having  broken  their 
parole  and  being  taken  again  in  arms,  they  were  hanged 
and  shot  instantly  in  great  numbers.  But  if  there  were 
any,  on  either  side,  who  happily  knew  Colonel  Rugeley, 
that  knowledge,  and  his  confirmation  of  it,  was  complete 
redemption.  He  was  a  favourite,  also,  because  he  never 
suffered  his  soldiers  to  plunder,  as  others  did.  Being  once 
in  an  extremity,  he  cut  and  marked  some  pine  blocks,  so 
as  to  resemble  cannon  on  an  intrenchment,  and  in  conse- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


83 


quence  surrendered  his  regiment  on  good  terms  to  the 
republicans.  In  the  consideration  even  of  a  generation 
unknown  to  him,  his  memory  is  precious.  After  the 
peace,  and  the  establishment  of  independence,  he  re¬ 
turned  home,  and  was  prosecuted  36  times  in  [63]  the 
American  courts  by  men,  whom,  it  was  alleged,  his  revo¬ 
lutionary  troops  had  injured;  but  he  was  victorious  in  his 
defence  of  all  the  suits,  out  of  which  he  came,  says  a  sur¬ 
vivor,  with  honour  unspotted.  He  was  the  most  friendly 
and  indulgent  of  men  towards  neighbours  and  negroes, 
for  he  loved  and  served  all.  He  would  not  have  returned 
to  die  in  England,  but  for  the  infidelity  of  his  lady,  during 
his  flight  to  the  mother  country.  Her  guilty  paramour 
was  the  colonel's  confidential  overseer,  who,  after  the 
final  departure  of  his  master,  married  the  lady.  This 
affair,  it  is  here  thought,  broke  the  noble  heart  of  the 
colonel;  who  soon  after  his  return,  slept,  and  was  gathered 
unto  his  fathers. 

Sunday ,  23d. —  I  dined,  this  day,  at  my  cousin  Captain 
Rugeley’s,  with  Mr.  Irvin  and  family.  At  sunset,  I 
visited  the  negro-huts,  in  which  I  found  small  nests  or 
beds,  full  of  black  babies.  The  women  were  cooking 
corn-cakes  in  pans  over  the  fire.  Oak-leaves  were  laid 
over  the  cakes,  and  then  hot  embers  or  ashes  on  them: 
thus  they  are  speedily  baked.  All  seemed  happy,  having 
kind  treatment,  full  bellies,  and  little  thought;  being  un¬ 
consciously  degraded,  to  the  level  of  the  beasts  that  per¬ 
ish.  Saw  no  church,  nor  heard  any  thing  of  a  sabbath. 
Slept  at  the  Captain’s  in  a  good  bed,  curtainless,  along¬ 
side  the  one  in  which  himself  and  lady  and  children  slept; 
all  in  one  room,  the  only  one  in  the  house;  with  [64]  a 
fine  negro-wench  on  the  floor,  at  our  feet,  as  our  body¬ 
guard,  all  night,  in  readiness,  to  hush  the  children.  Thus 


84 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


patriarchally  did  I  and  my  cousins  dress  and  undress, 
talk  and  sleep.  What  lovely  simplicity!  It  is  all  pure, 
unsophisticated  nature  — -  a  shining  contrast  to  all  I  saw 
at  Camden. 

24 th. —  All  the  morning  hunting  deer,  but  killed  none. 
Visited  Captain  Rugeley’s  rich  plantations.  One  negro 
to  12  acres  of  land,  and  one  horse  to  every  24  acres,  are 
thought  to  be  sufficient.  Met  a  large  and  social  party, 

including  Mr.  J.  Rochell  and  Mr.  M - ,  two  intelligent 

and  gentlemanly  men,  brothers-in-law  of  the  Rugeleys. 
All  these,  and  many  others,  are  here  living  in  great  ease 
and  independence,  but  still  they  seem  dissatisfied,  and 
on  the  wing  for  another  and  better  country,  the  Alibama 
territory,  where  they  have  made  purchases  of  fresh  land 
and  new  homes.  An  awful  tempest  darkened  and  illu¬ 
minated  the  mountainous  forest  this  evening,  during  which 
I  noticed  large  luminous  sparks  of  fire  in  the  trees,  which 
I  found  to  be  fire-flies,  or  as  they  are  here  called  lightning- 
bugs.  These  curious  insects  have  been  seen  in  clusters, 
hanging  on  two  trees  on  each  side  of  a  road,  and  at  a 
distance  resembling  two  lamps. 

Introduced  at  Mr.  Rochell’ s  to  an  ancient  black  woman 
of  about  80  or  85,  a  favourite  negro  of  the  late  Colonel 
Rugeley,  and  once  his  cook.  They  [65]  told  her  I  was 
one  of  his  English  children.  The  good  old  creature  shed 
tears,  and  would  have  kissed  me  for  joy. 

25 th. —  Dined  with  Mr.  Irwin,  and  a  kind  family  party. 
Two  gentlemen,  planters,  came  this  morning  to  the  major 
to  make  for  them  the  conveyance  of  a  negro,  whom  one 
had  just  bought  of  the  other,  and  who  was  warranted  to 
him  sound  wind  and  limb,  and  to  be  defended  against 
all  other  claims.  If  a  negro  dies  soon  after  sale,  or  at  the 
end  of  six  months,  the  physician  is  called  in,  not  to  restore 


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85 


life,  but  to  open  the  body,  and  thereby  ascertain  whether 
the  slave  died  from  unsoundness  and  old  diseases,  or 
from  recent  sickness.  If  from  the  former  cause,  the  pur¬ 
chase  money  is  returned.  Negroes  occasionally  ride  their 
master’s  horses  all  night,  to  the  distance  of  many  miles, 
on  trading  excursions,  selling  what  they  have  stolen  dur¬ 
ing  the  week.  About  three  weeks  since,  a  gentleman 
planter  of  this  neighbourhood,  had  one  of  his  slaves,  a 
strong  fellow,  whipped  to  death  for  stealing.  The  party 
who  presided  over  this  horrid  execution,  were  all,  as  well 
as  the  owner,  drunk,  a  circumstance  which  is  here  offered 
as  an  excuse  for  murder;  or  rather  for  whipping  away 
1,000  dollars,  the  prime  cost  of  the  victim. 

26 th. —  Much  alarmed  last  night,  while  in  my  bed  in 
the  state-room.  Something  jumped  on  my  dressing  table, 
drank  up  the  water,  broke  the  glass,  and  disappeared. 
It  was  a  rascally  rat.  I  was  [66]  awakened  again  by  a 
singular  rustling,  rattling  noise  underneath  my  bed,  and 
suspected  it  must  be  a  huge  rattle-snake.  What  a  bed¬ 
fellow  !  It  came  not  however  into  bed,  but  continued  to 
annoy  me  all  night  with  intermitting  noises.  What, 
gentle  reader,  dost  thou  think  it  proved  to  be?  A  good 
motherly  old  hen  on  her  nest,  full  of  hatching  eggs,  which 
she  found  it  necessary  to  turn  over  frequently.  She  dis¬ 
turbed  me  no  more,  but  remained  my  well-known  com¬ 
panion. 

27 th. —  Dined  this  day  with  Mr.  J.  Rochell,  a  fine 
hearty  Carolinian,  who  promises  me  a  handsome  cane  of 
ironwood  as  a  keepsake.  Here,  where  slavery  prevails 
in  perfection,  which  Carolinians  call  their  curse,  it  is  cal¬ 
culated  that  the  labour  on  a  plantation  costs  nothing;  and 
that  by  breeding  freely,  and  by  the  consequent  increase 
of  saleable  slaves,  the  planter  is  even  a  gainer,  exclusive 


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of  the  costless  labour.  The  market  price  of  negroes 
fluctuates  with  the  price  of  produce. 

Buffaloes,  which  herd  together  in  vast  numbers,  are 
thus  decoyed  and  taken;  but  not  alive.  A  man  dresses 
himself  in  one  of  their  skins,  and  walks  on  all  fours  to  the 
brink  of  a  stupendous  precipice,  so  concealed  as  to  be 
unobserved  by  the  hurrying  animals.  The  decoy  steps 
aside,  and  down  rush  and  tumble  the  herd,  and  break 
their  necks  or  legs  in  falling.  The  skins  and  tongues  are 
then  taken  and  the  carcases  left. 

2 Sth. —  Took  leave  of  Captain  Rugeley,  and  accom¬ 
panied  [67]  Major  Rowland  Rugeley  to  the  seat  and 

goodly  plantation  of  his  wife’s  venerable  father,  - 

Mickle,  Esq.  to  dine  and  spend  the  day  and  night;  being 
now  on  my  return  to  the  city,  by  way  of  Columbia.  Here 
I  found  a  rich  patriarchal  table,  and  at  it,  Major  J.  Jo. 
Mickle  and  J.  Elliston  Pea,  two  only  sons  and  favorites, 
young  gentlemen  of  fine  fortunes.  After  dinner  we  went 
a  hunting  but  caught  nothing,  except  one  of  the  most 
venomous  serpents,  called  a  Mocoson,  and  the  rattle  of  a 
rattle-snake.  Examined  a  vegetable,  said  to  be  effica¬ 
cious  as  a  remedy  for  the  bite  of  these  deadly  serpents, 
and  received  a  root  of  it.  It  is  cultivated  in  gardens,  but 
taken  originally  from  the  forest.  It  resembles  a  fleur-de- 
lis,  and  the  flag  which  grows  in  English  marshes,  and  is 
called  the  Rattle-snake’s  Master-piece.  When  the  leg  or 
hand  of  a  man  is  bitten,  the  limb  is  buried  in  the  earth, 
until  a  milky  decoction  and  fomentation  can  be  made 
from  this  herb,  which,  if  promptly  applied  externally  and 
internally,  is  an  unfailing  specific.  The  burying  the 
parts  effected,  prevents,  it  is  said,  the  poison  from  circu¬ 
lating  through  the  system  to  the  heart.  I  witnessed,  at 
a  late  hour  this  evening,  a  tempest  remarkably  awful 


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during  which  the  good  old  man  prayed  to  the  God  of 
thunder,  while  all  the  family  surrounded  its  domestic 
altar.  This  gentleman  (Mr.  Mickle,  sen.)  appears  to 
me  to  be  a  rare  example  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion; 
[68]  kind  and  gentle  in  manners,  and  much  resembling 
good  old  Ingle,  the  patriarch  of  Somersham. 

Seeing  such  a  swarm,  or  rather  herd,  of  young  negroes, 
creeping  and  dancing  about  the  door  and  yard  of  his 
mansion,  all  appearing  healthy,  happy,  and  frolicsome, 
and  withal  fat  and  decently  clothed,  both  young  and  old, 
I  felt  induced  to  praise  the  economy  under  which  they 
lived.  “Aye,”  said  he,  “I  have  many  black  people,  but 
I  never  bought  nor  sold  any  in  my  life.  All  that  you  see 
came  to  me  with  my  estate  by  virtue  of  my  father’s  will. 
They  are  all,  old  and  young,  true  and  faithful  to  my  inter¬ 
ests;  they  need  no  task-master,  no  overseer;  they  will 
do  all,  and  more  than  I  expect  them  to  do;  and  I  can 
trust  them  with  untold  gold.  All  the  adults  are  well 
instructed,  and  all  are  members  of  Christian  churches 
in  the  neighbourhood ;  and  their  conduct  is  becoming  their 
professions.  I  respect  them  as  my  children,  and  they 
look  on  me  as  their  friend  and  father.  Were  they  to  be 
taken  from  me,  it  would  be  the  most  unhappy  event  of 
their  lives.”  This  conversation  induced  me  to  view  more 
attentively  the  faces  of  the  adult  slaves;  and  I  was  aston¬ 
ished  at  the  free,  easy,  sober,  intelligent,  and  thoughtful 
impression,  which  such  an  economy  as  Mr.  Mickle’s  had 
indelibly  made  on  their  countenances.  Blush,  ye  black 
whites  of  America,  when  ye  behold  these  white  blacks! 

[69]  29 th. —  At  nine  o’clock,  after  receiving  the  bless¬ 
ing  of  this  family  and  its  venerable  head,  I  moved  towards 
Columbia,  greatly  regretting  that  I  could  stay  no  longer. 
I  shall,  perhaps,  see  him  no  more;  but  wheresoever  this 


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humble  page  shall  bear  his  honoured  name,  liberty, 
justice,  and  truth,  shall  bless  him,  and  make  him  a 
blessing. 

At  noon,  we  were  overtaken  in  the  forest  by  a  tremen¬ 
dous  storm  of  wind,  hail,  rain,  thunder  and  lightning; 
huge  trees  fell  around  us;  houses  were  unroofed;  and  we 
were  exposed  to  all  its  fury  in  our  chaise  under  a  tree. 
The  air  seemed  full  of  thunder-bolts,  insomuch  that  I 
fancied  myself  shot  through  and  through.  Hail-stones, 
large  as  pigeons’  eggs,  smote  us  and  our  horse,  but  were 
not  permitted  to  do  us  harm. 

About  20  miles  west  of  Columbia,  we  saw  a  party  of 
jurymen  and  other  citizens,  digging  up  the  body  of  a 
slave,  who  had  been  wantonly  whipped  to  death,  and 
buried  privately  about  a  week  since,  and  that  too  by  the 
hands  of  his  own  master.  As  this  is  the  second  man  thus 
murdered,  the  first  being  left  unburied  for  dogs  to  eat,  I 
hereby  resolve  to  give  publicity  to  all  the  particulars  of 
the  last  case  when  I  reach  the  city.  The  gentleman  who 
disclosed  to  the  Coroner  the  secret  of  this  outrageous 
murder,  came  to  us,  stated  the  case  clearly,  and  invited  us 
to  go  with  him  and  behold  what  was  once  man,  but 
then  a  mis-shapen  mass  [70]  of  putrescence.  At  sunset 
we  reached  Columbia,  and  bid  farewell  to  the  kind  and 
generous  Major  Rugeley.  I  promised  to  revisit  him,  but 
could  not;  a  circumstance  which  I  much  regretted,  be¬ 
cause  he  and  his  sire  had  collected  a  museum,  containing 
many  natural  curiosities  of  the  state,  in  readiness  for  my 
return  to  them  and  England. 

Sunday ,  30 th. —  Off  by  six  o’clock.  Saw  a  large  field 
of  wheat  ready  for  the  harvest,  and  white  plums,  dead 
ripe,  in  great  abundance.  Four  young  negroes  were 
offered  for  sale  at  1,000  dollars  the  lump,  but  found  no 


1818-1819] 


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89 


customers,  although  they  would  some  time  since  have  sold 
for  double  and  triple  that  amount.  Saw  a  large  veno¬ 
mous  Mocoson.  Slept  this  night  68  miles  from  Columbia ; 
a  dreadful  tempest,  all  night,  almost  equal  to  that  of  yes¬ 
terday.  I  found  my  bed  alive  with  bugs,  fleas,  and  other 
vermin;  rose  at  two,  a.  m.,  to  shake  myself,  and  enjoy  a 
sort  of  respite  from  these  creeping,  tormenting  bedfellows. 
On  opening  my  window,  I  was  annoyed  by  frogs  innum¬ 
erable,  of  two  species;  some  loudly  whistling  or  chattering, 
like  English  sparrows  at  pairing-time;  others,  bitterly 
lamenting,  like  thousands  of  chickens  deserted  by  their 
mother  hens;  others,  bellowing  like  cows  in  sorrow  for 
weaning  calves.  This  confusion  from  within  and  from 
without,  from  above  and  from  below,  spoiled  my  night’s 
rest,  and  seemed  to  carry  me  back  a  few  scores  of  centu¬ 
ries,  [71]  into  Egyptian  plagues.  I  was  not  a  little  pleased 
and  surprised  to  find  that  none  of  my  restless  bedfellows 
accompanied  me. 

31s/.  I  started  at  three  this  morning.  Noticing  during 
the  preceding  day,  a  large  number  of  young  naked  negroes, 
male  and  female,  all  very  healthy;  I  praised  their  appear¬ 
ance.  A  gentleman,  standing  by,  seemed  to  enjoy  and 
take  that  praise  to  himself.  “They  are  mine,  sir,”  said 
he,  meaning  that  he  had  bred  them.  ‘  T  treat  them  well. 
When  hungry,  I  feed  them;  when  sick,  I  send  for  a  doctor 
for  them.  My  care  over  them  is  money  well  spent.  As 
to  clothing,  you  see  they  want  none.”  We  changed 
horses  and  stopped  half  an  hour  at  Mrs.  Chandler’s  mail- 
house.  At  eight  o’clock,  this  evening,  I  once  more  found 
myself  at  the  Planter’s  hotel,  to  sleep  in  a  bed  without  a 
mosquito  net,  and  to  rise,  growling  at  my  old  negro  cham¬ 
berlain  and  landlady.  Saw,  during  the  day,  moss  hanging 
in  large  ropy  lengths  from  the  forest  trees  down  to  the 


9° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


earth;  a  certain  indication  of  rich  land,  but  of  a  sickly  and 
pestilential  situation. 

June  i st. —  Closetted  with  Judge  King.  This  good  and 
honest  man  deems  a  monarchical  system  of  government, 
having  a  limited  monarchy,  the  best  for  all  countries.  The 
poor  are  kept  in  better  order  by  it.  He  believes  also  that 
the  republican  system  is  not  yet  fairly  tried  in  America; 
the  people  being  scattered  over  a  wide  surface,  and  [72] 
therefore  unable  to  concentrate  or  organise  themselves 
against  the  system  yet.  He  thinks  also  that  the  national 
debt  of  England  is  a  national  good !  ‘  ‘A  good,”  rejoined 

I,  “from  which  may  the  Lord  deliver  both  us  and  you!” 

2nd. —  Waited  on  Doctor  Benjamin  Huger,  with  my 
introductory  letter  from  Dr.  Osgood.  These  gentlemen 
were  once  fellow-students  at  the  university  of  Cambridge. 
I  thought  the  doctor  a  clever  and  interesting  man. 

yd. —  Rose,  this  morning,  stung  and  lamed  by  mos¬ 
quitoes.  As  a  remedy  I  bathed  the  parts  affected  in 
brandy,  and  then  lay  half  an  hour  in  a  warm  bath,  at  950 
by  the  thermometer.  Two  of  my  fellow-boarders,  one  a 
rich  German  Jew,  a  jeweller,  and  the  other  a  German 
quack-doctor,  came  to  me  and  requested  that  I  would 
“make  a  duel”  between  them.  They  had  quarrelled 
about  a  horse  running  in  the  Jew’s  curricle.  “I  want, 
and  wish,  and  will,”  said  the  doctor,  ‘  ‘throw  a  bullet  into 
the  Jew’s  shoulder.”  I  declined  commencing  manufac¬ 
turer  of  duels.  - Robertson,  Esq.,  from  Scotland,  a 

near  relative  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Robertson,  the  historian, 
came  to  invite  me  to  a  dinner  at  Mrs.  Monroe’s  to-morrow. 
The  party  to  be  composed  of  Scotch  and  English  mer¬ 
chants  only,  and  the  dinner  given  by  one  of  the  party  in 
honour  of  King  George. 

4 th. —  The  birth-day  of  George  III.  Agreeable  to  en- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


91 


gagement,  we  celebrated  this  anniversary  at  [73]  a  sump¬ 
tuous  table,  surrounded  principally  by  dashing  Scotchmen, 
at  which,  in  a  shower  of  champaigne,  nearly  all  present 
were  loyally  drunk  to  the  honour  of  Great  George.  As 
this  feast  was  too  highly  seasoned  with  loyalty,  no  Ameri¬ 
cans  were  admitted. 

5 th. —  My  resolution,  made  on  the  29th,  was  this  morn¬ 
ing  carried  into  effect  in  the  following  letter  to  the  editor  of 
the  Courier,  copies  of  which  I  saw  printed  in  other  papers, 
nearly  2,000  miles  from  this  city. 

From  the  Charleston  Courier  0 }  June  5. 

‘  ‘  The  well  taught  philosophic  mind, 

To  all  compassion  gives. 

Casts  round  the  world  an  equal  eye, 

And  feels  for  all  that  lives !” 

Mrs.  Barbauld. 

‘  ‘Sir, —  On  my  way  to  this  city,  from  a  short  tour 
through  the  interior  of  this  state,  a  few  days  ago,  20  miles 
west  of  Columbia,  I  was  suddenly  attracted  to  a  spot  of 
earth,  over  which  a  respectable  company  of  citizens  were 
deeply  intent  on  witnessing  the  exhumation  of  the  body 
of  an  animal,  costing  1,200  dollars;  but  which  its  humane 
owner,  (one  Kelly)  and  three  other  persons  like-minded, 
had  seized  and  tied  to  a  tree  at  midnight,  and  each  in  turn 
wantonly  whipped  until  sun-rise;  when,  from  excessive 
lashing,  its  bowels  gushed  out ,  and  it  expired,  and  was 
instantly  buried  in  a  [74]  private  comer  on  Sunday,  the 
23rd  ult.  But,  on  inquiry,  the  said  animal  proved  to  be 
of  the  negro,  and  by  some  was  thought  to  be  of  the  human 
species;  and  stood  “guilty  of  having  a  skin  not  coloured 
like  our  own.”  An  offence  for  which  these  arbiters  of  life 
and  death,  doomed  it  to  die!  To  their  honour,  it  should 
be  told,  that,  when  fainting,  they  threw  cold  water  on  its 


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[Vol.  ii 


face,  and  poured  whiskey  down  its  throat,  in  order  to 
prolong  the  sport.  It,  however,  for  several  minutes  before 
it  was  untied,  became  speechless  and  motionless,  as  the 
tree  to  which  it  was  bound.  It  could  feel  and  writhe  and 
smart  under  the  merciless  lash  no  longer. 

“Good  God!  exclaimed  I,  where  am  I?  on  the  earth 
which  thou  hast  created,  and  didst  once  pronounce  blessed; 
or  in  the  Pandemonium  of  the  heathen  ?  Heaven,  I  knew 
it  could  not  be,  for  a  cruel  task-master,  his  hands  imbrued 
in  human  blood,  had  just  crossed  my  path !  Is  it  then,  I 
continued,  free  America?  an  asylum  for  the  distressed 
and  oppressed  of  all  other  lands;  the  land  of  my  adored 
Washington;  the  adopted  country  of  my  dearest  friends; 
the  only  country  on  this  huge  cursed  earth,  where  liberty 
finds  an  ark,  or  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  pained  foot;  and  the 
country  to  which  I  came  with  every  fond  prejudice  and 
predilection !  What !  free,  and  yet  offer  up  human  sacri¬ 
fice!  Monstrous  anomaly!  Go;  fly  these  hasty  lines 
through  the  world!  Challenge  offended  [75]  humanity 
to  produce  a  spectacle  so  genuinely  hellish,  or  so  purely 
demoniacal!  Did,  sir,  ever  a  sabbath-sun  dawn  on  a 
catastrophe  so  abhorrent  to  your  feelings,  or  those  of 

Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

W.  Faux. 

Planter's  Hotel ,  Charleston , 

June  2,  1819.” 

A  great  noise  was  heard  as  soon  as  the  Courier  appeared ; 
some  approving,  others  disapproving,  as  interest  or  hu¬ 
manity  prompted.  James  Gregory,  Esq.  first  called  this 
morning,  regretting  that  I  had  thus  written.  He  then 
introduced  me  to  a  noble  Marquis,  now  the  French  consul 
here,  with  whom  I  dined,  and  who  very  condescendingly 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


93 


offered  to  introduce  me  to  his  friend  the  British  consul. 
“I  love  England,”  said  he,  “in  either  peace  or  war;  in 
peace  she  is  more  friendly  than  America;  and  in  war,  she 
is  a  brave  and  noble  enemy.  There  is  much  honour  in 
beating  her,  and  consequently  but  little  disgrace  in  being 
beaten  by  her.”  Soon  after  dinner  came  a  gentleman,  a 
candidate  for  legislatorial  honours,  Mr.  Condy,  aid-de- 
camp  to  his  Excellency  the  Governor,  bearing  a  message 
and  compliments  to  me  from  the  Governor,  begging  to 
know  when  I  could  wait  on  the  Attorney-General  with  Mr. 
Condy,  to  make  an  affidavit  of  facts,  touching  the  case 
stated  in  my  letter  of  to-day.  I  replied,  I  was  engaged 
[76]  for  the  present,  but  would  accompany  him  to  the 
mansion  of  the  Attorney- General  next  morning.  He  then 
politely  took  his  leave,  promising  to  revisit  me  in  the 
morning. 

Sunday ,  6th. —  At  ten  o’clock  this  morning  I  went  in 
due  form  with  the  governor’s  aid-de-camp  to  Colonel 
Haines,  the  young  Attorney- General,  who,  when  I  entered, 
after  a  polite  reception,  addressed  me  as  follows:  —  ‘  ‘Now, 
sir,  will  you  please  to  open  to  me  your  sources  of  informa¬ 
tion,  touching  this  alleged  murder?  But,  sir,  give  me 
leave  to  say,  that  I  think  that  you  have  acted  imprudently 
in  publishing  it  so  hastily,  inasmuch  as  it  interferes  with 
the  province  of  a  jury.”  I  replied,  ‘  ‘My  motives  are  good, 
and  they  must  shelter  me.  I  fear  not  the  consequences. 
Too  little  publicity,  I  think,  is  given  to  such  cases:  what 
I  have  done  is  calculated  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such 
enormities.”  “But,  sir,  you  have  stained  the  character 
of  South  Carolina,  and  what  you  have  thus  written  will  be 
greedily  copied  and  extensively  read  to  our  injury,  in  the 
northern  and  eastern  states,  and  all  over  Europe.  But, 
sir,  let  me  tell  you,  further,  that  such  offences  rarely  occur  in 


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[Vol.  ii 


this  state,  which  is  always  prompt  to  punish  the  offenders. 
Will  you  or  can  you  give  personal  evidence  ?  ’ ’  I  answered, 
“I  cannot.  I  can  do  no  more  than  I  have  done.  My 
publication  and  my  conversation  with  you,  sir,  are  suffi¬ 
cient.  From  what  I  have  said  to  you  now,  [77]  the  matter 
is  tangible  enough.”  “Well,  sir,”  rejoined  he,  “if  that 
is  all  that  you  will  do  and  say,  we  must  leave  it,  and  I  will 
write  immediately  to  the  district  attorney,  and  get  Kelly 
indicted.”  This  conversation  or  examination  occupied 
about  an  hour,  and  was  politely  conducted.  There  is  no 
evidence,  that  the  learned  gentleman  redeemed  his  promise 
here  given.  A  well  written  pamphlet  by  my  friend,  J. 
Wright,  reproaches  Mr.  Attorney- General  with  direct 
breach  of  promise  in  this  affair. 

Dined  and  spent  the  day  with  Mitchel  King,  Esq.,  at 
whose  table  I  met  the  reverend  minister  of  the  Scotch 
church,  and  heard  him  preach  in  the  evening. 

The  most  eminent  advocates  in  the  law  here,  rarely 
make  above  2,000 /.  sterling,  and  the  salaries  of  the  judges 
are  under  1,000/.  per  annum. 

I  thought  the  reverend  gentleman  above  named,  neither 
eloquent  nor  very  interesting.  Our  conversation  turned 
from  lawyers  to  divines.  We  all  united  in  praising  and 
admiring  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall,  of  Leicester,  who  through 
the  medium  of  the  press  seems  intimately  known  and 
highly  valued,  here.  Specimens  of  his  oratory,  from  some 
of  his  printed  sermons,  are  given  for  examples  to  young 
students  in  the  ministry,  and  may  be  seen  in  a  work  called, 
The  American  Pulpit  Orator. 

7th. —  Met  my  venerable  friend  Nathaniel  Russell,  Esq. 
and  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Middleton,  living  in  a  nest  of  roses, 
and  both  regretting  the  cause  of  [78]  my  letter  respecting 
the  negroes,  because  it  would  make  a  deep  impression  to 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  ^Journal 


95 


their  prejudice  in  the  northern  states.  I  saw  and  ate  ripe 
figs,  pears,  apples,  and  plums  in  abundance,  the  rich  pro¬ 
ductions  of  this  generous  climate,  which  now  fill  the 
markets,  as  though  it  were  Autumn  instead  of  June.  Ter¬ 
ribly  stung  by  mosquitoes,  fleas,  and  bugs.  Feeling 
inflammatory  symptoms,  something  like  bilious  fever,  I 
took  two  grains  of  calomel,  and  a  very  warm,  relaxing  bath, 
and  found  relief.  I  drank  also  less  toddy  and  punch, 
which,  in  this  country,  are  certainly  bilious. 

I  noticed  to-day  the  galley-slaves  all  singing  songs  in 
chorus,  regulated  by  the  motion  of  their  oars;  the  music 
was  barbarously  harmonious.  Some  were  plaintive  love- 
songs.  The  verse  was  their  own,  and  abounding  either  in 
praise  or  satire,  intended  for  kind  or  unkind  masters. 

8th. —  This  morning,  at  the  command  of  the  Governor, 
and  under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney- General,  appeared 
in  the  Courier  some  vague  paragraphs  on  the  subject  of 
my  examination,  before  the  latter  gentleman  on  Sunday. 
It  was  a  vain  endeavour  to  obliterate  the  deep  impression 
made,  and  still  making  by  my  negro  letter.  Soon  after  I 
began  my  morning  walk,  I  was  met  and  rather  rudely 
catechised  by  a  Mr.  Bee,  who  much  importuned  me  to 
accompany  him  to  the  Times  Office,  and  see  the  above 
reply,  which  appeared  in  both  papers.  This  tart  republi¬ 
can  [79]  defender  of  slavery,  seemed  disposed  to  quarrel 
with  me,  but  I  had  seen  the  article  and  declined  his  invi¬ 
tation.  “Go,”  said  he,  “and  do  justice  to  injured  Caro¬ 
lina.”  To  do  that  would  be  to  make  negroes  and  planters, 
for  a  few  years,  exchange  places  and  stations. 

I  dined,  and  spent  the  day  and  night  on  Sullivan’s 
healthy  island,  four  miles  in  the  sea,  east  of  the  city.  On 
landing  I  found  the  elegant  chariot  of  Mr.  Gregory,  with 
two  negroes  in  waiting  on  the  beach  to  take  me  up,  and 


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[Vol.  ii 


when  I  returned,  I  was  attended  in  like  manner.  At  this 
gentleman’s  summer  seat,  washed  by  the  ocean,  I  met  with 
an  agreeable  dinner  in  the  English  style.  But  as  I,  in  the 
execution  of  the  objects  of  my  mission,  had  called  on  Mr. 
G.  to  give  an  account  of  his  long  stewardship,  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Rugeley  property,  and  wanted  money  from  him,  I 
was  not  a  very  welcome  guest,  nor  he  to  me  the  most 
agreeable  host.  His  lady  seemed  a  superior  woman. 

9 th. —  On  my  return  to  the  city,  this  morning,  I  found 
a  silly  and  ill-natured  epistle  in  the  Times  paper  on  the 
subject  of  my  negro  letter.  It  is  certainly  honourable  to 
this  state  that  so  much  excitement  is  seen,  on  touching  its 
sore  and  vulnerable  part.  Judge  King  regrets  that  I 
should  have  so  written,  and  says  I  must  not  answer  my 
opponents  in  the  way  I  wish.  It  will  be  thought  time¬ 
serving,  and  be  read  to  my  prejudice  on  both  [80]  sides  of 
the  water.  “And  moreover,”  says  he,  “the  Carolinians 
are  chivalrous,  and  will  pursue  you  with  the  most  deter¬ 
mined  animosity,  if  you  continue  to  provoke  and  wound 
them  on  this  tender  point.”  Such  being  the  state  of  public 
feeling,  in  this  free  country,  I  was  cautioned  against  being 
out  late  in  the  evening.  “Take  care  of  yourself,”  said 
my  friends,  “for  dirking  is  the  fashion.”  I  therefore  de¬ 
clined  further  controversy;  merely  saying,  that  though  the 
paupers  of  England  were  by  the  planters  thought  to  be 
worse  off  than  their  negroes,  yet  in  England,  bad  as  things 
are,  not  even  a  lord  may  kill  a  man  without  being  hanged 
for  it;  a  specific  which  I  could  recommend  to  all  negro- 
killers  in  America. 

io th. —  I  visited  the  high  court  of  justice,  where  but 
little  talent  seems  necessary,  and  where  the  judge  upon 
the  bench  and  the  counsel  and  crier  below,  all  seem  upon 
an  easy,  familiar  footing  of  equality;  consulting  together, 


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97 


tete-a-tete,  about  the  time  of  opening  court  next  day.  His 
lordship  then  left  the  bench,  and  stepping  into  his  sulky, 
with  a  negro-boy  behind  him,  drove  off.  No  ceremony, 
no  trumpets  told  the  multitude  that  he  was  a  judge,  and 
that  it  was  judgment  day. 

11  th. —  Thomas  Ferreand,  Esq.,  a  Frenchman,  and  an 
eminent  merchant  of  this  city,  shot  himself  on  the  eve  of 
this  day;  pecuniary  embarrassment  was  the  cause.  He 
had  endorsed  bills  to  a  large  [81]  amount,  for  the  accom¬ 
modation  of  a  friend  in  the  city,  who  had  just  failed  and 
deceived  him.  Ferreand  sent  a  challenge  in  consequence, 
but  was  advised  to  wait  three  days  for  an  answer.  Before 
the  end  of  April  he  shot  himself  in  the  following  manner. 
Accompanied  by  his  servant,  a  male  negro,  he  went  down 
to  the  battery  hanging  over  the  sea,  at  ten  o’clock  at  night, 
taking  a  pair  of  loaded  pistols  with  him.  On  his  arrival, 
he  took  off  his  coat,  and  gave  the  negro  two  letters  just 
written,  one  for  his  chief  clerk,  and  the  other  for  his  lady. 
The  negro,  now  suspecting  evil,  began  to  give  an  alarm; 
when  Ferreand,  to  hush  him,  pointed  one  pistol  at  him, 
and  discharging  the  other  into  his  own  mouth,  fell  instantly 
dead  over  the  battery  into  the  sea. 

12 th. —  I  spent  this  day  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
witnessing  the  eloquence  of  the  American  bar.  The  cause 
a  negro  wench,  to  whom  two  citizens  laid  claim.  Twelve 
witnesses  on  both  sides  swore  to  her  identity.  This  trial, 
being  the  sixth  on  the  same  case,  lasted  four  whole  days. 
Colonel  Haines,  the  young  Attorney- General,  displayed  a 
pleasant  species  of  eloquence,  quite  conversational.13  Mr. 

13  This  was  the  statesman,  Robert  Young  Hayne.  Born  in  St.  Paul’s  Parish, 
South  Carolina,  November,  1791,  he  studied  law  at  Charleston  and  was  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  bar  (1812),  but  laid  aside  his  practice  to  serve  in  the  3d  South 
Carolina  regiment  during  the  War  of  1812-15.  State  attorney  general  from 
1818  to  1822,  the  following  year  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate. 


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Barrister  Hunt  was  low  and  stormy.  The  jury,  unable 
to  come  to  an  unanimous  decision,  were  locked  up  till 
midnight,  when  they  could  dissolve  themselves,  but  they 
remained  until  eleven  on  Sunday  morning.  Food  was 
furnished  to  them  by  stealth.  The  state  immediately 
altered  [82]  the  law  to  compel  juries  to  sit  until  they  can 
decide,  or  be  liberated  by  consent  of  parties.  On  the 
Monday,  the  jury  again  met,  and  were  locked  up  again 
for  four  days,  and  liberated  by  consent  of  parties  without 
giving  a  verdict.  The  case  therefore  remains  to  be  tried 
a  seventh  time. 

Sunday ,  13th. —  Accompanied  Nathaniel  Russell,  Esq. 
(whose  son-in-law  was  a  bishop)  to  an  excellent  church, 
this  morning,  but  saw,  as  I  thought,  little  piety  or  devotion. 

14 th. —  Again  at  court,  to  witness  the  form  of  passing 
sentence  on  a  criminal,  the  turnkey  of  the  prison,  who  was 
convicted  of  aiding  the  escape  of  a  murderer.  He  seemed 
a  genteel  or  smart  young  fellow,  and  with  little  emotion 
heard  himself  doomed  to  be  branded  with  the  letter  M  on 
the  thick  of  his  thumb,  and  imprisoned  one  year.  The 
judge,  in  a  black  silk  gown,  a  very  judicious,  kind-hearted 
man,  shewed  how  just  and  reasonable  was  the  sentence 
pronounced. 

I  left  the  Planter’s  hotel,  (Charleston,)  where  funerals 
begin  to  be  frequent,  owing  to  pestilential  air,  and  took  up 
my  abode  on  Sullivan’s  cool,  salubrious  isle,  to  which  I  go 
with  an  agreeable  young  Yankee,  Mr.  Coffin,  bound  to 
New  Orleans  and  Natches. 

There  he  took  a  firm  stand  against  a  protective  tariff,  and  in  opposition  to  the 
tariff  of  1832  announced  the  doctrine  of  nullification,  his  speech  calling  forth 
Webster’s  celebrated  reply.  Elected  governor  (December,  1832),  he  led  the 
state  in  preparing  to  resist  with  armed  force  the  collection  of  the  tariff,  but 
Jackson’s  prompt  measures  and  Clay’s  compromise  bill  induced  the  common¬ 
wealth  to  repeal  her  ordinance  of  nullification.  Upon  the  expiration  of  his 
gubernatorial  term,  he  served  as  mayor  of  Charleston  (1835-37). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


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99 


1 6th. —  I  find  myself  delightfully  situated  on  this  island 
of  White  Land,  where  not  a  blade  of  grass  is  seen;  only 
hedges  of  bagonet  plants  and  myrtles.  It  is  a  naked  island, 
of  about  eight  miles  in  [83]  circumference,  variegated  with 
summer  mansions,  refuges  from  pestilence.  The  sea  is 
tumultuously  roaring  about  one’s  ears  all  night,  and  kissing 
one’s  feet  all  day.  The  houses  are  of  wood,  and  built  on 
wooden  posts  or  pillars,  so  that  the  sea  may  flow  (at  high- 
tide  in  winter)  underneath. 

1 7 th. —  In  the  city,  to  which  I  can  go  by  steam  four 
times  a  day,  I  saw  large  flocks  of  vultures,  called  turkey 
buzzards,  because  they  are  of  the  size  and  form  of  a  turkey. 
At  a  neighbouring  city,  Savannah,  there  is  a  law  to  enforce 
the  fine  of  five  dollars  for  every  bird  of  this  species,  wan¬ 
tonly  killed.  They  fly  about  like  carrion-crows  in  Eng¬ 
land,  but  so  tame  that  you  may  walk  amongst  and  kill 
them  easily.  This,  however,  is  not  permitted,  as  they 
devour  all  filth  and  putrescence,  and  are  considered  as 
friends  to  the  community  at  large. 

The  judges,  counsellors,  senators,  and  representatives, 
down  to  the  constables,  in  this  state,  are,  it  is  said,  the 
slaves  of  popularity.  Laws  are  therefore  enacted  and 
decisions  made,  unfriendly  to  the  public  good.  In  the 
courts,  the  influence  of  the  bench  over  the  bar  is  scarcely 
seen  or  felt;  or,  if  at  all  used,  it  is  done  in  the  most  gentle 
and  delicate  manner,  both  seemingly  mutually  obliged  and 
obliging.  The  same  conduct  also  exists  in  the  bar,  tow¬ 
ards  witnesses,  who  audaciously  mount  the  judge’s  bench 
to  give  evidence.  This  love  of  popularity  is  deemed  by 
some  an  enemy  to  the  [84]  general  weal.  My  landlady, 
Mrs.  Calder,  a  Caledonian,  grumbles  greatly,  because  her 
billiard  table  pays  a  tax  of  100  dollars  annually.  How 
hard ! 


I  oo 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


The  Scotch  people,  of  whom  there  are  many  in  this  city 
and  state,  are  the  most  successful  merchants;  yet  they 
abuse  America  violently,  and  never  become  citizens.  In 
time  of  war,  they  are  therefore  very  properly  deemed  and 
treated  as  aliens  and  prisoners,  and  ordered  out  of  the 
seaports  into  the  interior,  where  they  must  quietly  con¬ 
tinue  until  peace  is  made. 

My  landlord,  Mr.  Calder,  during  his  last  visit  to  Scot¬ 
land,  was  imprisoned  on  a  charge  of  endeavouring  to  force 
his  negro  back  to  America.  The  poor  negro’s  chains  fell 
off,  when  he  reached  old  Scotland,  where  he  now  lives,  a 
free  man. 

At  sunset,  a  few  evenings  since,  while  among  plantations, 
suddenly  burst  upon  my  ear  an  earth-rending  shout.  It 
proceeded  from  negroes  shouting  three  times  three,  on 
finishing  their  task. 

20 th. —  The  ladies  of  Carolina,  it  is  said,  prefer  a  fair 
effeminate  kind  of  man  to  one  of  a  robust  habit,  and 
swarthy  dark  complexion.  This  preference  of  delicate 
complexions  originates  in  their  antipathy  to  any  colour 
approaching  to  that  of  the  negro  or  mulatto,  or  yellow 
man,  whom  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  from 
a  white  or  brown  person. 

Squatters  are  natives  who  squat  or  settle  on  [85]  vacant, 
unoccupied  lands  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  and 
claim  a  title  thereto  by  long  undisturbed  possession,  in 
which  the  government  protects  them.  The  heirs  of  the 
late  R.  and  H.  Rugeley  have  lost  80,000  acres,  now  in  the 
hands  of  Squatters.  On  the  verge  of  barbarism,  near  the 
Indian  Territory,  when  a  respectable  settler  comes  with 
authority  to  occupy  the  lands,  these  squatters  are  known 
to  dress  and  disguise  themselves  as  Indians,  and  present 
themselves,  with  the  rifle  and  tomahawk,  to  the  servants 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  journal 


101 


of  the  settlers,  whom  they  threaten  with  destruction. 
This  is  intended  to  scare  away  all  new  comers,  and  has, 
in  some  instances,  had  the  desired  effect.  To  remedy  this, 
it  was  proclaimed  that  the  first  Indian  seen,  mock  or  real, 
should  be  shot  without  ceremony.  Hence  no  more  sham 
Indians  were  seen. 

215/. —  I  sailed  over  to  the  city  with  his  Excellency  Gov¬ 
ernor  Geddiss,  who  seems  friendly,  and  generally  known, 
shaking  hands  with  nearly  all  in  the  boat.  It  is  a  pleasing 
feature  of  this  people  that  all  are  outwardly  social,  bor¬ 
dering  on  something  like  equality.  This  feature,  though 
delusive,  strikes,  and  is  highly  interesting  to  strangers 
from  old  countries,  and  is  beneficial  to  America,  to  which 
it  particularly  attaches  them;  and,  perhaps,  both  natives 
and  adopted  citizens  are  thereby  fraternised. 

In  the  Washington  City  Gazette,  I  saw  the  good  speeches 
of  Mr. - ,  while  chairman  of  the  [86]  forum.  My  proph¬ 

ecies  respecting  this  distinguished  friend  and  excellent 
man  are,  I  see,  fast  fulfilling.  With  fair  play,  such  men 
as  he  and  Mr.  Pittiss,  late  of  the  isle  of  Wight,  must  suc¬ 
ceed  any  where,  and  therefore  furnish  no  fair  criterion  of 
success  in  emigration  generally. 

22nd. —  My  countryman,  Mr.  Beaumont  of  Hunting¬ 
donshire,  called,  and  introducing  himself  to  breakfast  with 
me  this  morning,  continued  two  hours  in  conversation. 
He  states  that  he  came  an  unrecommended  stranger  to 
this  town,  only  two  years  since.  He  advertised  his  wishes, 
and  had  immediate  offers  of  first-rate  situations  on  plan¬ 
tations.  He  engaged  at  500  dollars  the  first  year;  half 
the  profits  of  the  dairy,  all  the  poultry:  and  advances 
every  year,  either  by  an  increased  salary,  or  by  a  per 
centage  on  the  produce.  He  saves  money,  and  doubts 
not  of  being  able  to  realize  a  competency  as  an  overseer; 


102 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


but  he  thinks  clerkships  in  stores  much  more  desirable 
and  beneficial.  Any  young  man  who  is  steady,  must,  he 
is  sure,  do  well  there.  Mr.  Beaumont  has  introduced 
the  English  system  of  agriculture,  so  far  as  practicable, 
with  success.  The  value  of  one  acre  of  rice  is  ioo  dollars, 
or  22 1.  ios.  sterling,  and  its  cost  about  30  dollars. 

23 rd. —  Yesterday,  as  a  mark  of  special  favour,  I  re¬ 
ceived  a  present  of  a  female  slave  from  my  hostess,  Mrs. 
Calder.  Her  name  is  Cassandra.  She  was  to  be  dressed 
as  a  man  and  pass  for  my  [87]  body  guard  to  England, 
and  then  to  be  given  to  my  neighbour  George  Thompson, 
Esq.  of  Somersham,  who  had  requested  me  to  procure  a 
pair  of  negroes  for  the  use  of  his  establishment.  On 
communicating  the  news  of  this  transfer  to  the  fair  and 
youthful  Cassandra,  she  wept  bitterly,  and  tore  her  curly 
wool;  the  thought  of  leaving  her  old  mistress  and  many 
young  acquaintances,  was  death  to  all  her  hopes.  When 
I  heard  this,  I  proceeded  with  her  owner  in  due  form  to 
take  possession  of  my  fair  property.  She  looked  piteously 
at  me.  I  told  her  she  was  mine  and  must  accompany 
me  to  England.  She  sighed  and  cried,  and  said,  ‘  ‘What, 
Massa!  Go  to  dat  far  off  country  ?”  “Yes.”  “O, 
Massa!  let  me  go  and  see,  and  bid  good  bye  to  all  my 
dear  children,  and  grandchildren,  and  great  grandchil¬ 
dren.  I  do  love  ’em  dearly.”  When  I  declined  to  accept 
the  gift,  her  tears  vanished,  like  dew  before  the  sun,  and 
joy  lighted  up  her  black  wrinkled  countenance;  for  she 
was  turned  of  80,  and  her  woolly  head  was  white  as  snow. 

24 th. - Broadfoot,  Esq.,  a  merchant  in  the  city, 

informed  me  at  dinner,  that  he  was  once  on  a  jury,  in  a 
cause  where  a  female  sued  a  white  man  of  this  state  for 
60/.,  the  amount  of  12  years  maintenance  of  her  and  his 
natural  child.  She  gained  the  cause,  but  he  not  being 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


103 


able  to  pay  debt  and  costs,  or  give  security,  was  actually 
sentenced  to  be  sold  for  a  term  of  years,  until  his  labour 
[88]  had  paid  the  demand.  How  equitable !  How  patri¬ 
archal  ! 

I  am  here  paying  3s.  6 d.  a  bottle  for  bad  London  porter, 
just  700/.  per  cent,  above  cost,  and  185.  Sd.  a  gallon;  three 
times  dearer  than  real  French  brandy,  or  any  other 
spirits,  the  best  of  which  is  sold  at  a  dollar  and  a  half  a 
gallon. 

At  Charleston,  no  black  man,  though  free  and  rich, 
and  having  horses  and  carriages  to  let,  as  for  instance, 
John  Jones,  the  landlord  of  the  best  house  in  the  city,  is 
permitted  to  ride  them  for  pleasure  as  his  own,  nor  to  be 
seen  out  of  his  own  house  after  ten  at  night,  when  the 
thundering  drum  and  the  centinels  from  the  guard-house, 
go  round  to  clear  the  streets  of  all  men,  women,  or  chil¬ 
dren,  stained  with  negro  blood. 

Sunday ,  27 th. —  It  was  reported  this  morning  that  the 
pestilence,  called  the  yellow  fever,  had  made  its  entry  into 
this  city,  and  that  the  board  of  health  had,  as  is  usual,  re¬ 
quested  all  strangers  and  visitors  to  depart.  This  report 
was,  in  part,  untrue;  one  man  in  the  hospital  had  just  died 
of  it,  but  he  brought  it  with  him  from  the  Havannah. 
This  disease  in  its  nature  seems  at  present  not  under¬ 
stood,  nor  correctly  defined  by  the  faculty  here.  Dis¬ 
putes  have  arisen  only  to  darken  the  subject.  Some  hold 
it  to  be  contagious,  others  infectious.  The  houses,  in 
which  it  first  appears,  are  generally  pulled  down;  while 
others  are  fumigated  and  washed  with  strong  lime-water, 
and  the  families  [89]  removed  from  the  street  to  the  fields 
and  kept  in  tents.  This  disease  seems  confined  to  the 
western  world,  and  to  have  been  known  there,  from  the 
time  of  its  discovery  by  Columbus;  but  it  prevails  most  in 


104 


Early  TV e stern  Travels 


[Vol.  ir 


the  southern  states,  cities,  and  swamps.  It  sometimes  ex¬ 
tends  as  far  north  as  lat.  40°.  In  rainy  seasons,  and 
during  a  long  westerly  wind,  it  is  more  fatal  than  common. 
In  Charleston,  it  is  said  not  to  be  contagious.  Its  first 
symptoms  are  a  pain  in  the  back  and  head ;  then  a  vomit¬ 
ing  of  black  fluid,  resembling  coffee  grounds;  a  mortifi¬ 
cation  next  ensues,  and  the  patient  dies  quickly  and  easily 
in  about  three  days  after  its  commencement. 

My  friend,  Mr.  Kelsall,  a  visitor  at  my  hotel,  states  that 
he  lately  met  at  the  Planter’s  hotel  a  party  of  thirteen 
gentlemen,  eleven  of  whom  had  each  killed  his  man  in 
duels.  A  military  officer,  living  in  this  city,  kept  a  mis¬ 
tress,  who  knew  and  disliked  the  friend  of  her  gallant, 
then  living  at  New  Orleans,  and  of  whom  she  said  many 
evil  things  to  her  gallant,  which  he  fully  credited.  The 
New  Orleans  friend  was  then  instantly  challenged  by 
letter,  to  which  he  answered  personally,  saying  the  charge 
against  him  was  false,  and,  in  explaining,  he  could  prove 
it  to  be  so.  They  met,  and  the  New  Orleans  man,  with 
the  first  shot,  killed  the  accuser;  and  that,  says  my  inform¬ 
ant,  deservedly.  The  survivor  went  up  to  shake  hands 
with  the  dying  man.  “No,”  said  he,  with  a  bitter  [90] 
oath,  “Have  I  missed  you?”  The  seconds  then  asked 
him  what  were  his  last  wishes.  ‘  T  have  a  pair  of  pistols, 
given  me  by  a  brave  fellow,  and  I  should  be  sorry  that 
they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  coward;  put  them,  I 
pray  you,  into  my  coffin  with  me.”  The  point  of  honour 
is  maintained  here  in  high  perfection.  A  scoundrel,  who 
has  cheated  his  creditors,  if  reproached  with  it,  calls  out 
his  man  and  kills  him  if  he  can. 

2 8th. —  I  quitted  for  ever  Sullivan’s  pleasant  isle  of 
myrtles,  a  sure  refuge  from  pestilential  heat  and  poisonous 
mosquitoes,  in  the  hot,  sandy,  stinking  city  of  Charleston, 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


io5 


where  the  elements,  earth,  air,  and  water,  swarm  with  all 
that  is  noxious.  At  n,  a.  m.,  we  got  under  weigh  in  the 
good  packet  General  Wade  Hampton ,  Captain  Baker, 
commander.  I  paid  30  dollars  for  my  passage  in  the 
cabin,  full  of  genteel  and  agreeable  passengers,  male  and 
female,  of  the  first  rank  and  quality,  all  bound  to  the  city 
of  Philadelphia.  I  left  letters  of  thanks  behind  me  for  the 
many  civilities  received  from  Messrs.  Prescot  and  Bishop, 
N.  Russel,  Esq.,  (now  no  more)  and  several  other  gentle¬ 
men,  to  whom  may  this  page  carry  my  grateful  regards. 
So  great  was  the  difference  in  exchange  between  north 
and  south,  that  I  had  to  pay  my  banker  4 1.  per  cent,  for 
New  York  paper,  and  7/.  per  cent,  for  specie,  silver  dol¬ 
lars.  Southern  paper  is  somewhat  ragged  in  reputation 
at  New  York.  Our  good  captain,  who  is  an  honest  gen¬ 
tlemanly  man,  [91]  knows,  in  Carolina,  a  poor  master- 
builder  from  England,  who  landed  without  money,  but 
who  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  by  jobbing  about  among 
the  planters,  saved  money  enough  to  send  over  for  his  large 
family,  now  all  with  him,  flourishing  together  to  all  their 
hearts’  desire.  As  surely  as  the  sun  shines,  so  will  indus¬ 
try  prosper  in  any  almost  untaxed  community. 

30 th. —  In  the  gulf-stream  all  last  night,  and  passed, 
unseen,  Cape  Hatteras,  having  sailed  400  miles  since 
Monday.  J.  W.  Ancrum,  Esq.  with  his  lady  and  family, 
and  six  black  servants,  are  on  board.  Mr.  Ancrum’ s 
lady  is  a  branch  of  the  Washington  family,  a  niece  of  the 
late  General,14  and  he  a  senator  of  Carolina,  to  whose  civil¬ 
ities  I  acknowledge  myself  indebted.  “At  a  recent  con¬ 
tested  election,”  says  he,  “I  saw  a  candidate  soliciting  the 
vote  of  a  gentleman  freeholder  in  our  state,  where  freehold- 

14  James  H.  Ancrum  married  (1801)  Jane  Washington;  her  mother  was  a 
niece  and  her  father  a  nephew  of  George  Washington. —  Ed. 


io6 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


ers  only,  by  the  bye,  have  a  vote.  The  answer  was  this: 
‘  ‘Why,  colonel,  I  always  reckoned  you  was  an  independ¬ 
ent  man,  quite  above  begging.  I  now  find  I  was  grossly 
deceived  and  mistaken.  I  came  here  purposely  to  give 
you  my  vote,  which  is  now  in  my  hand;  but  as  you  have 
demeaned  yourself  so  much  as  to  ask  me  for  it,  I  shall  not 
give  it  to  you  but  to  your  opponent.”  What  a  lesson  is 
this  to  the  old  world.  But  think  not  that  candidates  and 
electors  are,  here,  all  incorruptible.  A  barbecued  [92] 
hog  in  the  woods,  and  plenty  of  whiskey,  will  buy  birth¬ 
rights  and  secure  elections,  even  in  America. 

July  1  st. —  We  were  greeted  with  the  sight  and  sound 
of  Land  a-head  O !  the  coast  of  Pennsylvania  and  Phila¬ 
delphia  light-house;  thus  passing  from  Charleston  light¬ 
house  to  this,  in  the  short  space  of  60  hours,  a  distance  of 
between  six  and  seven  hundred  miles,  averaging  ten  miles 
an  hour.  At  six  this  evening,  we  anchored  in  the  spacious 
Bay  of  Delaware,  20  miles  broad,  dividing  the  two  states 
of  Jersey  and  Delaware.  At  nine  we  passed  the  quaran¬ 
tine  establishment,  (a  noble  asylum)  with  but  a  slight 
scrutiny  by  the  doctors,  although  we  expected  detention, 
on  account  of  the  sickness  on  board  and  of  the  pestilence 
left  behind  us. 

2d. —  At  six  this  morning  we  reached  Newcastle,  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Delaware,  40  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
The  scenery  here,  on  both  banks,  is  enchanting.  The 
hay  and  oat  harvest,  now  general  along  these  lovely  banks, 
perfumes  the  air  of  the  river  with  odours.  Here,  too,  the 
contrast  is  heightened  by  the  recent  view  of  parched,  bare 
sands  in  the  south;  for  here  all  is  green,  gay,  and  flowery; 
and  fine  commodious  farm-houses  and  rich  pastures,  full 
of  cattle  and  sheep,  variegate  the  perspective  in  every  di¬ 
rection,  quite  up  to  Philadelphia.  In  the  south  are  no 


1818-1819]  Faux's  Journal  107 

pastures;  in  the  north,  plenty,  well  stocked  with  beeves  or 
[93]  bullocks  of  enormous  size  and  weight.  We  passed 
the  bare  Hessian  bank,  a  sandy  bluff  on  the  river,  so 
called ;  where,  during  the  revolutionary  war,  a  post  of  poor 
hireling  Hessian  soldiers  was  surprised  and  destroyed  by 
the  rebels.  This  spot,  it  is  said,  is  haunted  by  spectres, 
and  the  grass,  therefore,  has  never  since  grown  upon  it. 
We  landed  in  the  city,  at  one  o’clock,  p.  m.  having  trav¬ 
elled  800  miles  in  four  days,  with  a  rapidity  seldom 
equalled.  The  city,  viewed  from  the  river,  is  neither  im¬ 
posing  nor  interesting,  nor  does  it  present  any  thing  strik¬ 
ing,  until  you  reach  its  centre.  Quitting  the  good  ship 
Wade  Hampton ,  which  is  formed  of  a  part  of  William 
Penn’s  noble  tree,  under  which  he  made  peace  with  the 
Indians,  I  put  up  and  dined  at  Jud’s  good  hotel,  with 
my  southern  Irish  friend,  Moses  Wood,  Esq.  an  agreeable 
and  kind-hearted  young  gentleman,  of  a  good  temper.  In 
the  evening,  attended  by  a  free  negro,  I  called  with  my 
several  introductory  letters  to  Messrs.  Price,  whom  I  saw; 

- Krugg,  Esq.  gone  to  Kentucky;  Jerry  Wardour,  out; 

Edward  Wilson,  at  Baltimore;  Joseph  Lancaster,  at 
Boston;  his  representative,  Mr.  Jones,  present,  and  very 
attentive  and  polite.  Such  letters  are  of  little  value 
unless  they  come  from  one  friend  to  another,  both 
greatly  esteeming  each  other,  or  the  bearer  has  plenty  of 
money.  Letters  of  introduction,  under  other  circum¬ 
stances,  will  scarcely  procure  the  stranger  a  gratuitous 
dinner.  If  poor,  [94]  he  will  be  sent  up  the  state  by 
other  letters,  and  passed  from  house  to  house  and  town  to 
town,  for  work. 

3d. —  In  the  evening,  on  horseback,  with  Mr.  Wood,  Mr. 
Jones,  & c.  I  took  a  delightful  airing  to  German’s  Town, 
along  the  romantic  banks  of  the  Schuylkill  to  its  falls. 


io8 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Bridges  of  singular  beauty,  and  roofed  over,  stretch  across 
this  pure,  transparent  river,  on  the  banks  of  which  birds 
have  planted  many  cherry-trees,  now  of  prodigious  size, 
and  from  which  we  and  others  wantonly  broke  off  large 
boughs,  full  of  ripe  cherries,  and  laid  them  across  our 
saddles,  that  we  might  eat  them  as  we  rode  along.  In 
every  direction,  fruit  is  ready  to  fall  into  the  mouths  of 
passengers.  At  German’s  Town,  I  called  upon  and  talked 
with  an  old  countryman,  long  settled  here,  Mr.  Pysley, 
once  of  my  native  Isle  of  Ely,  who  says  that  the  day  for  emi¬ 
gration  is  gone  by.  ‘  T,”  said  he,  ‘  ‘came  here  in  the  best 
of  times,  but  I  have  had  to  work  hard  on  my  stall,  and 
have  known  no  rest,  from  the  clamour  of  my  awl,  and  my 
lapstone  and  hammer.  Let  those  who  will  come,  ex¬ 
pect  to  work  all  their  days,  as  I  have  done,  and  then  only 
just  live.”  He  talked  and  thought  kindly  of  all  he  left 
behind,  but  particularly  of  his  dear  native  land,  which  he 
can  never  behold  more. 

Sunday ,  4 th. —  Introduced  to  Mr.  Maginnis,  an  Irish 
lecturer  on  elocution,  and  to  an  English  gentleman,  Mr. 
Hobson.  Europeans,  so  far  from  [95]  home,  meet  and 
mix  sweetly  like  milk  and  honey.  Attended  Dr.  Stor- 
ton’s  chapel,  an  immense,  elegant  rotundity,  like  Row¬ 
land  Hill’s,  in  the  Surrey  road.  The  Doctor’s  pulpit  was 
supplied  by  an  American  preacher  of  much  saucy  sim¬ 
plicity  of  manner.  I  visited  a  noble  mansion-house  in  this 
city,  erected  purposely  for  and  presented  by  the  citizens  to 
General  Washington,  which  he  refused,  and  which  now 
stands  a  goodly  monument  of  his  unequalled  magnanimity. 

The  negroes  in  this  state  and  city,  are  all  free  and  inde¬ 
pendent.  A  slave,  thanks  be  given  to  William  Penn! 
cannot  live  here.  That  they  are  free  and  happy,  need 
not  be  told:  it  is  known  by  only  looking  into  their  faces, 


1818-1819]  Faux's  Journal  109 

and  contemplating  their  erect  statures,  both  of  which  here 
lose  every  thing  negro-like  but  their  colour,  and  acquire 
all  the  majesty  of  man. 

5 th. —  Yesterday,  being  Sunday,  the  grand  anniversary 
of  Independence  is  necessarily  celebrated  on  this  day, 
which  is  brother  Jonathan’s  immortal  universal  festival. 
Roaring  cannon  and  merrily  ringing  bells  salute  the  morn, 
and,  until  midnight,  all  is  frolic  and  hilarity,  from  one  end 
of  this  mighty  empire  to  the  other.  At  night,  in  Vaux- 
hall  Gardens,  I  saw  a  representation  or  effigy  of  the  late 
General  Washington,  and  heard  an  oration,  in  which  that 
illustrious  man  was  compared  to  Cincinnatus,  and  highly 
eulogized.  I  talked  with  citizen  Fleming  and  Jerry 
Wardour,  jun.  Esq.,  [96]  both  rich,  and  the  latter  partic¬ 
ularly  intelligent  and  communicative,  having  great  expe¬ 
rience  in  all  matters  touching  emigrants  and  emigration, 
as  many  thousands  of  persons  and  pounds  are  constantly 
passing  through  his  office  and  hands  to  this  country.  He 
says  that  no  body,  who  is  living  comfortably  in  England, 
should  think  of  emigrating.  But  to  those  who  resolve 
to  do  so,  he  recommends  British  settlement  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  the  eastern  states,  in  preference  to  Illinois  and 
the  western  country;  because  the  latter  is  sickly,  being  ex¬ 
posed,  in  a  high  degree,  to  bilious  fever;  is  supplied  with 
only  bad  water;  and  is  so  far  from,  or  rather  altogether 
without  a  market  for  produce.  He  had  never  heard  of 
any  persons,  excepting  visitors,  returning;  but  of  many,  the 
most  unfit,  settling  down  comfortably  there,  from  Bond- 
street  and  Holborn,  London.  Mr.  Birkbeck  still  lives  in 
a  log  cabin,  doing  little  or  no  business.  The  Flowers  and 
he  are  irreconcileable  enemies.15  Grand-children  will 

15  Regarding  the  difficulty  between  Birkbeck  and  Flower,  see  Preface  to 
volume  x  of  our  series. —  Ed. 


I  I  o 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


reap  the  benefits  of  emigration  thither,  but  fathers  and 
mothers,  although  they  cannot  starve,  must  sacrifice  them¬ 
selves.  Two  long  years  must  pass  before  any  thing  can 
be  made  from  the  land,  which  must  be  cleared  at  a  cost 
of  22  dollars,  or  4I.  19 s.  an  acre.  It  is  therefore  better  to 
give  gl.  for  cleared  land,  or  uncleared,  with  house  and 
good  farm  buildings  on  it,  than  2I.  an  acre  in  Illinois, 
where  there  is  no  market,  no  house,  no  convenience,  yet 
land  capable  of  raising  [97]  provisions  sufficient  for  Great 
Britain’s  great  and  many  wants.  New  Orleans  is  their 
only  market  for  produce,  which,  being  perishable,  must 
be  sold,  even  for  freight  down  the  river,  which  it  is  some¬ 
times  insufficient  to  pay.  There  are  several  fine  states 
nearer  to  that  general  market  than  Illinois  and  Birkbeck’s 
settlement;  of  which  I  have  (says  Mr.  Wardour)  reported 
unfavourably,  and  thereby  offended  Mr.  Birkbeck,  who, 
by  the  bye,  has  much  misrepresented  and  spoken  unjustly 
of  the  eastern  states,  and  that  without  ever  having  seen 
them.  In  these  only,  however,  can  an  English  farmer 
flourish;  for  here,  indeed,  when  you  buy,  you  get  either 
the  land  or  the  building  on  it  for  nothing.  In  order  to  do 
business  well,  a  man  must  privately  look  about  him;  he 
must  have  his  eyes  in  his  head,  and  see  who  must  sell; 
thus  making  a  difference  in  the  cost  of  50 1.  to  nearly  100/. 
per  cent.  This  and  next  year  offer  fine  chances  for  buy¬ 
ing,  so  great  and  pressing  is  the  want  of  money.  There 
are  many  of  your  countrymen  who  think  of  coming,  and 
do  come,  quite  unfit  for  this  country,  bringing  with  them 
little  variety  of  knowledge  in  different  kinds  of  labour, 
but  all  their  old  prejudices,  the  worst  ware  they  can  bring; 
while  the  native  American  knows  every  thing,  and  hates 
or  fears  nothing.  The  Englishman  thinks  nothing  good 
or  right  but  what  is  English,  both  in  theory  and  practice. 


1818-1819] 


Faux1  s  Journal 


1 1 1 


He  thinks  his  system  and  mode  of  farming  must  be  best, 
but  [98]  he  would  do  well  to  try  it  only  on  a  small  scale, 
and  not  rashly  lay  aside  what  is  American,  and  well  tried; 
for  those  who  have  long  lived  on  the  soil,  must  certainly 
know  what  is  the  best.  In  the  state  of  Ohio,  though  so 
flourishing,  there  are  none  born  in  it  who  are  20  years  old. 
It  is  of  no  use  travelling  down  rivers  to  see  and  know 
countries,  or  get  information  about  them;  you  must  ride 
through  them  to  and  fro,  and  often  stop.  There  recently 
came,  in  one  of  my  ships,  an  English  bricklayer,  wife,  and 
family,  but  their  unfitness  for  this  land  was  quite  ludi¬ 
crous.  They  thought  they  were  to  be  nobles  here,  al¬ 
though  sent  from  your  country  by  their  parish  officers. 
And  then,  who  would  ever  have  thought  of  seeing  libra¬ 
rians  from  Bond  Street  come  here,  to  start  circulating 
libraries,  in  the  wilderness  of  Illinois.  Your  friend  John 
Ingle,  however,  now  in  Indiana,  is  a  good  fit  fellow,  know¬ 
ing  what  he^is  about.” 

6th. —  At  noon  I  left  the  good  city  of  William  Penn.  I 
am  now  swiftly  gliding  down  the  Delaware  in  a  superb 
steam-boat,  60  yards  long,  14  broad,  with  36  beds  for  gen¬ 
tlemen,  and  20  for  ladies,  all  in  the  cabin;  moving  from  10 
to  1 2  miles  an  hour. 

At  six,  p.  m.,  we  quitted  the  boat  and  river,  and  entered 
three  coaches,  which  conveyed  us  through  Newcastle,  40 
miles  to  French- town,  on  the  Chesapeake  bay;  where 
another  huge  boat  received  us  to  supper  and  bed,  en 
masse.  It  landed  us  to  [99]  breakfast  at  the  city  of  Balti¬ 
more,  120  miles  in  12  hours;  fare  six  dollars. 

7 th. —  In  this  city,  put  up  at  Gadsby’s  hotel  (the  best) 
containing  150  beds,  fine  warm  and  cold  baths,  and  a  well 
stored  reading-room,  with  files  of  all  domestic  and  foreign 
papers.  Here  I  saw  my  letter  on  negro-killing,  copied  into 


I  I  2 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


a  paper,  1,500  miles  from  Charleston.  At  breakfast  I 
found  meats  in  abundance,  besides  a  peck  of  eggs,  and 
huge  dishes  of  toast  and  rolls  soaked  in  butter,  and  smoth¬ 
ered  with  cream,  to  make  the  hard  crust  tender.  I  am  now 
again  in  negro  land,  and  all  the  comforts  of  slavery  sur¬ 
round  me.  In  Philadelphia  I  seemed  a  man;  but  here, 
a  god  for  negroes  to  worship.  All  is  homage  and  black 
attention.  The  city,  seen  from  the  bay,  might  be  mis¬ 
taken  for  Rome,  and  the  huge  dome  of  the  Exchange  for 
that  of  Holy  St.  Peter’s. 

At  ten,  a.  m.,  entered  Uncle  Samis  mail  for  Washington 
city,  that  is  to  be.  During  this  long  journey,  I  saw  no 
good  land,  save  the  marshes  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 
All  seems  exhausted,  worn-out,  rusty,  and  hung  up  to 
dry,  or  rather  to  bake  in  the  sun. 

At  four,  p.  m.,  reached  Washington,  which,  viewed 
from  the  Capitol  Hill,  looks  like  a  Roman  village,  for  all 
is  Roman  or  Grecian  here.  The  streets  are  a  mile  or  two 
in  length,  with  houses  a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart,  beauti¬ 
fied  by  trees  and  swamps,  and  cows  grazing  between.  At 
first  view,  a  [100]  stranger  might  suppose  that  some  con¬ 
vulsion  of  nature  had  swept  away  whole  streets,  and  laid 
waste  this  far-famed  metropolitan  city. 

At  seven,  p.  m.,  I  met,  at  a  private  table  at  the  house  of 
a  friend  and  countryman,  several  exiles,  to  tea,  or  rather 
supper,  where  I  was  received  and  treated  with  all  imagin¬ 
able  kindness.  Here  I  was  formally  introduced  to  my 
countryman,  Mr.  Elliott,  of  the  City  Gazette.16  I  visited 

16  Jonathan  Elliott  (1784-1846)  ;  was  born  near  Carlisle,  England.  Emi¬ 
grating  to  America  about  1802,  he  became  a  printer  in  New  York  city.  In 
1810  he  volunteered  to  fight  for  the  independence  of  New  Granada,  and  served 
under  General  Bolivar.  Returning  to  the  United  States  (1813)  he  took  part 
in  the  War  of  1812-15;  at  its  close  being  settled  in  Washington,  where  for  thir¬ 
teen  years  he  edited  the  Washington  Gazette.  He  was  the  author  of  American 
Diplomatic  Code  (1827);  and  Funding  System  oj  the  United  States  (1830);  and 
edited  the  Madison  Papers. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


l3 


Messrs.  Coote  and  Dumbleton,  good  brewers  of  brown 
stout,  on  the  banks  of  the  great  river  Potowmac,  late 
of  Huntingdonshire,  Old  England.  From  the  latter  gen¬ 
tleman,  I  learn  that  nearly  all  the  British  emigrants  feel 
disappointed.  “It  is  not  sufficient,”  says  he,  “that  an 
Englishman  lives;  he  expects  to  do  better  than  live.” 
Mr.  D.  seems  to  have  done  nothing  for  himself  yet, 
but  harm;  having,  together  with  his  brother,  spent  all 
their  money  in  mechanical  pursuits.  Constant  work  can¬ 
not  be  had,  yet  it  is  thought  to  be  better  than  half  a  crown 
per  day,  constant,  in  England. 

8th  and  9 th. —  “Farming,”  says  Messrs.  C.  and  D.,  the 
brewers,  “is  more  comfortable  and  profitable  in  England 
than  here;  for  large  and  fine  estates  in  Virginia  do  not 
keep  families  with  necessaries.  They  send  a  little  fire¬ 
wood  to  this  market,  for  the  sake  of  a  few  dollars,  which 

1 

some  borrow  one  of  another,  for  marketings  daily.  Neither 
is  brewing  so  profitable  as  at  home,  although  less  capital 
will  suffice,  there  being  no  public-houses  [101]  to  buy  here; 
but  all  the  malting  barley  must  be  bought  at  once.  Some, 
however,  are  not  able  to  do  so.  Porter  is  cheaper  here 
than  at  home.”  My  now  generous  host,  it  is  said,  is 
almost  the  only  successful  emigrant,  doing  more  business, 
and  better  too,  than  any  other  merchant;  and  yet  he  came 
hither  without  capital.  His  superior  talents  have  insured 
success,  which  will,  and  must  follow  him.  He  is  deemed 
the  smartest ,  and  wisest  Briton  in  the  city.  Still,  there 
are  several  hundreds  of  fine  young  men  here  and  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  all  out  of  employment;  men,  who  ought  not  to 
have  left  England’s  overstocked  common  and  glutted 
market.  English  labourers,  and  first-rate  mechanics,  too, 
are  seen  working,  at  the  Capitol,  for  the  low  price  of  half 
a  dollar  per  day,  or  whatever  the  master-builder  pleases. 
Many  firms,  too,  are  lessening  and  disappearing,  through 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


114 


want  of  capital;  they  hold  so  much  unnegociable  paper, 
and  must  hold  it  until  the  indorser  pleases  to  cash  it. 

10 th. —  My  host,  every  where  the  public  eulogist  of 
America,  says,  “that  England  is  the  place  for  men  of 
fortune,  but  this  land  for  the  industrious  bees  who  cannot 
live  there.  Fools  must  not  come,  for  Americans  are 
nationally  cold,  jealous,  suspicious,  and  knavish,  have 
little  or  no  sense  of  honour,  believing  every  man  a  rogue, 
until  they  see  the  contrary;  thinking  imposition  and  ex¬ 
tortion  fair  business,  and  all  men,  fair  game:  kind,  obliging 
[102]  conduct  is  lost  upon  them.  A  bold,  saucy,  inde¬ 
pendent  manner  towards  them  is  necessary.  They  love 
nobody  but  themselves,  and  seem  incapable  of  due  re¬ 
spect  for  the  feelings  of  others.  They  have  nothing  ori¬ 
ginal;  all  that  is  good  or  new,  is  done  by  foreigners,  and 
by  the  British,  and  yet  they  boast  eternally.” 

Such  is  the  rough  sketch  of  an  admiring  artist,  once  in 
a  state  of  infatuation,  but  now  getting  sane  and  sober. 
The  scales  have  left  his  eyes,  and  he  begins  to  see,  to  his 
sorrow.  I,  too,  fancy  I  see  something  like  a  strong  and 
general  feeling  of  disappointment,  pervading  almost  all 
I  meet,  who  have  recently  emigrated ;  and,  on  examina¬ 
tion,  I  find  that  my  observation  does  not  deceive  me.  All 
have  over-rated  America.  Hope  told  a  flattering,  lying 
tale,  and  they  believed  her  to  their  own  undoing.  A  visit 
to  this  country  will  increase  an  Englishman’s  love  for  his 
own,  whether  he  can  or  cannot  live  in  it.  If  he  cannot, 
he  comes  here,  cursing  the  cause,  hating  the  change,  and 
hoping  to  return,  on  some  fair  future  day,  which  fate  may 
yet  have  in  store  for  him. 

Sunday ,  nth . —  To-day,  I  received  a  long  epistle  from 
Joseph  Lancaster,  very  eulogistic  on  my  letter  and  con¬ 
duct  touching  negro-killing,  but  not  so  honorable  to  Caro- 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


"S 


lina.  ‘  ‘On  mentioning  this  affair,”  (says  he,)  ‘  ‘in  a  stage, 
it  operated  like  an  explosion  on  all  present.”  Met  the 
Rev.  John  Wright,  who  complimented  me  on  having  [103] 
dared  to  attack  the  beast  in  his  temple,  meaning  slavery  in 
Carolina.  He  states,  that  Mr.  Birkbeck,  if  he  had  taken 
good  advice,  had  never  gone  to  Illinois  to  deceive  himself 
and  others,  and  injure  many.  Introduced  to  Messrs. 
Matchem  and  Shanks,  two  native  citizens,  one  in  the 
government,  and  both  eloquent  and  ingenious  men,  who 
openly  accuse  the  English  emigrants  of  shewing  contempt 
for  America,  by  odious  comparisons,  and  by  not  socially 
mixing  with  the  natives.  Both  parties  in  this  matter  err, 
and  alike  stand  in  need  of  correction.  The  American, 
so  called,  although  his  father  or  grandfather  was  perhaps 
a  British  convict,  despises  all  recent  emigrants,  because 
he  fancies,  that  they  who  know  most,  must  despise  him. 
Fancy  and  jealousy  then,  must  bear  the  blame.  There 
seems  so  little  here  to  remind  me  that  it  is  Sunday,  that 
I  had  almost  forgotten  it.  Religion,  however,  became  the 
theme.  There  is  more  intolerance  here  than  in  England. 
Methodists  predominate,  and  are  brimful  of  bigotry;  and 
the  Catholics  are  very  fiery  and  violent  in  all  spiritual 
matters,  but,  having  no  power,  they  cannot  injure  their 
fellow-citizens.  All  sects  hate  my  reverend  friend,  be¬ 
cause  he  is  an  Unitarian,  and  hates  slavery,  and  therefore 
nothing  good  can  be  in  him  or  come  out  of  him. 

1  $th. —  Met  and  talked  with  both  Dumbletons,  who 
have  failed  in  two  distinct  enterprizes.  The  elder  in  a 
brewing  concern  in  Philadelphia,  through  [104]  uniting 
himself  to  a  falling  firm,  at  the  head  of  which  was  a  thief 
and  swindler;  and  the  younger  brother  in  a  threshing  ma¬ 
chine,  in  the  English  fashion,  to  hire  out  at  16  dollars  per 
day;  but  he  was  seldom  able  to  get  a  job,  the  farmer  not 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


1 1 6 


being  able  to  spare  the  dollars.  Eight  horses  or  oxen, 
therefore,  tread  out  the  grain,  ioo  bushels  a  day.  The 
machine  was  knocked  to  pieces,  and  the  proprietor  set 
off,  a  poor  pedestrian,  to  New  Orleans,  walking  to  and 
fro,  up  and  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississipi,  and  that, 
without  spending  any  money  save  his  earnings,  of  which 
he  brought  io  dollars  home.  He  thus  travelled  4,000 
miles,  to  see,  hear,  and  know  what  he  could  of  the  western 
wilds,  and  their  towns  and  cities,  where  he  could  earn  only 
three  dollars  a  week,  (but  slaves,  six  dollars,)  and  that  not 
constantly.  Slaves  are  preferred  all  over  the  west.  While 
with  his  machine,  he  worked  hard,  many  days  with  his 
shirt  off,  under  a  roasting  sun.  As  I  have  his  western 
journal,  he  may  hereafter  speak  for  himself.  Both  these 
young  men,  as  well  as  the  Chamberses,  lived  freely,  and 
acted  imprudently.  They  dressed  in  stile,  and  would 
have  dinners,  which  cost  four  dollars  a  week.  Much  less 
beer  is  here  made  from  the  same  quantity  of  malt  than  in 
England ;  about  one  half  less. 

14th. —  Met  Mr.  Cocken,  late  of  Lincolnshire,  who 
came  to  this  city  with  money,  and  has  increased  it.  ‘  ‘As 
good  farms  and  farmers  as  any  in  England,  are,”  he  says, 
‘  ‘to  be  found  in  this  [105]  state  of  Maryland.  My  son  a 
few  years  ago  only,  purchased  and  began  with  500/.,  and 
has  now  made  it  5,000/.  If  I  were  a  young  man  now,  I 
would  begin  on  the  poor  worn-out  land  round  this  city, 
which  is  to  be  bought  low,  and  may  soon  be  regenerated 
by  plaster  of  Paris,  one  bushel  to  the  acre,  from  the  port 
of  Alexandria,  whence  it  is  plentifully  imported  and  pre¬ 
pared  for  sowing.  The  English  system  is  wanted.  I 
have  seen  fine  red  clover,  two  or  three  tons  on  an  acre, 
foolishly  spoiled  by  depasturing  and  stocking  hard, 
whereas  it  ought  to  have  been  cut  and  used  after  the  soiling 


1818-1819]  Faux’ s  Journal  117 

mode.”  I  conceive,  as  does  Mr.  Cocken,  that  English 
farmers,  with  skill  and  a  little  money,  must  do  well,  though 
not  rise  or  fall  so  fast  here  as  in  England,  things  not  being 
so  changeable.  What  is  here  gotten  is  a  man’s  own,  it 
comes  gradually,  but  surely.  Dr.  F.  Dawes,  and  lady, 
late  of  Wisbeach,  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  with  whom  I  dined 
this  day,  wish,  but  are  reluctant  to  return,  seeming  to 
stay  here  only  to  find  fault  with  everything.  ‘  ‘No  body,” 
says  he,  “is  getting,  or  is  able  to  raise  any  money.”  The 
man  of  whom  Mr.  C.  speaks  in  his  letters,  as  “getting 
money  as  fast  as  he  can  count  it,”  is  unable  to  raise  2,000 
dollars  for  a  farm,  which  he  wants  to  buy  near  his  own ; 
and,  if  he  were  so  rich,  would  he,  think  you,  come  to  Wash¬ 
ington,  six  or  seven  miles,  with  three  lbs.  of  butter  under 
his  arm?  As  to  Mr.  Long,  from  Lincolnshire,  he  [106] 
has  removed  three  times;  is  dissatisfied  with  all  things, 
and  thinks  no  man  honest.” 

The  history  of  a  great  number  of  emigrants  in  this 
country  shews  unprincipled  looseness  in  morals,  and  but 
little  or  no  real  well  founded  integrity.  Public  offices  and 
government  clerkships  are  filled  by  men  who  really  could 
be  no  longer  tolerated  in  trade,  many  having  cleared  out, 
or  as  it  is  more  commonly  called,  backed  out,  four  times 
in  a  few  years.  Yet  such  are  the  most  esteemed  citizens, 
taking  precedence  of  tradesmen,  and  ranking  with  the 
aristocracy  of  the  city.  Dirking,  says  my  nameless  friend, 
is  a  common  unnoticed  offence;  a  peccadillo  which  renders 
no  man  uncomfortable,  but  him  whose  body  is  the  subject 
of  it.  We  have  too  much  liberty.  Ours  is  a  fine  govern¬ 
ment  in  theory,  but  its  laws  are  neither  respected  nor  en¬ 
forced.  Military  schools  contain  the  seeds  of  death  to 
American  liberty.  It  is  the  pride  and  pleasure  of  Ameri¬ 
cans  to  get  into  debt,  and  then  by  avoiding  payment, 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Yol.  ii 


1 18 


show  how  adroitlv  thev  can  cheat  and  wrons:  each  other. 
Few  look  upon  knavery  with  disgust,  but  rather  with  a 
smile  of  approbation.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  trade  with 
the  people  in  an  old  plain  honest  way.  Knavery  damns 
the  North,  and  slaverv  the  South.  Free  blacks  without 
a  certificate  are  here  seized,  put  into  our  city7  gaol,  adver¬ 
tised  a  month,  and  then  sold  for  gaol  fees,  when  they  be¬ 
come  slaves  for  life.  Who  would  [107]  expect  to  find  a 
certificate  always  in  the  pocket  of  a  poor  wandering  Afri¬ 
can,  who  has  become  free  ? 

16 th. —  Introduced  to  Mr.  Wm.  Elliott  of  the  Patent 
office,  the  contents  of  which  constitute  a  splendid  monu¬ 
ment  to  the  ingenuity  and  mechanical  genius  of  this 
country.  Many  models  appear  which  have  never  been 
copied.  Mr.  Elliott  is  an  Englishman,  descended  from  a 
noble  family,  and  was  a  neighbour  of,  and  known  to  Arch¬ 
deacon  Paley.  He  is,  too,  an  eminent  mathematician 
and  astronomer,  philosopher,  and  public  orator.  By 
him  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Adams,  a  learned,  highly 
intelligent,  and  honourable  Yankee.  Republicans  affect 
to  be  no  respecters  of  persons  merely,  but  they  can¬ 
not  conceal  the  effect  and  influence  of  property’  and 
authority7. 

I  met  again  Mr.  Adam  Lyon,  late  of  Chatteris,  Isle  of 
Ely,  now  a  butcher  in  this  city’.  He  states,  that  farming 
at  Honey,  near  his  native  town,  is  better  than  any  here, 
although  he  knows  of  some  farmers  in  Maryland  who 
net  great  profits.  A  dollar  in  trade  here  is  said  to  be  equal 
to  a  guinea  in  England,  but  business  not  so  easily  or 
respectably  managed.  I  received  from  Mr.  Edw.  Dum- 
bleton,  an  experimental  brewer,  a  statement  of  brewing 
porter  in  this  country,  by  which  it  is  clear  to  him,  that  by 
a  capital  of  1,400 1.  700 1.  or  50 1.  per  cent,  is  to  be  netted  by 


1818-1819]  Faux's  Journal  ng 

the  brewer,  while  [108]  the  retailer  or  publican  with  little 
or  no  capital  gains  ioo l.  per  cent. 

17/A.— With  Messrs.  T.  Coote  and  Dumbleton  I  vis¬ 
ited  the  navy-yard,  where  I  saw  several  eminent  mechan¬ 
ics,  nearly  all  Englishmen,  some  of  whom  are  receiving 
not  above  if  dollar  a  day,  although  at  home  they  received 
3/.  a  week.  The  steam  machinery  is  here  “mighty  fine,” 
“superbly  elegant,”  as  a  native  would  call  it,  and  the  new 
100  gun  ship  of  war  is  a  most  noble  vessel,  a  floating  bat¬ 
tery  worked  and  manned  by  900  men,  and  altogether  as 
good  and  gallant  a  ship  as  John  Bull  ever  saw.  Gouging 
still  flourishes.  His  Excellency,  Mr.  Monroe,  while  a 
young  man,  constantly  kept  his  hair  closely  shorn,  in 

order  that  his  head  might  be  less  exposed  to  this  brutal 
practice. 

Mr.  J.  D.  is  now  retailing  bottled  porter  at  a  net  gain 
of  7 1.  sterling  per  month.  Mr.  Thomas  Coote,  the  brewer, 
prefers  his  chance  to  any  which  he  could  take  in  England. 
So  cheap  is  all  butcher’s  meat,  and  so  dear  are  all  vege¬ 
tables,  that  for  some  tables  the  latter  cost  more  than  the 
former.  A  fat  lamb  or  sheep  will  scarcely  buy  one  bushel 
of  new  potatoes;  but  four  bushels  of  ripe  peaches  shov¬ 
elled  loose  out  of  a  waggon,  will  just  do  it,  if  a  sixpence 
is  added. 

Sunday,  18 th.~-  This  being  Sunday,  I  visited  the  white 
and  black  Methodist  congregations  at  [109]  George  town, 
to  the  latter  of  which  (the  black)  the  white  mayor  of  the’ 
town,  a  rich  Englishman,  of  long  and  high  standing,  is 
minister.  At  half  a  mile  distant,  we  could  distinctly  hear 
their  devotional  songs.  We  found  a  mighty  assemblage 
of  priests  and  priestesses,  for  all  preached,  prayed,  and 
sung  together.  The  pious  prayers,  and  sensible,  cheerful 
smgmg  of  the  poor  negroes,  (who  are,  however,  apt  to 


I  20 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


rise  into  wild  enthusiasm),  are  very  honourable  to  black 
capabilities,  and  exonerate  them  from  the  charge  of  nat¬ 
ural  and  moral  inferiority. 

19 th. —  Talked  with  the  Reverend  John  Wright,  Uni¬ 
tarian  minister,  proprietor  of  a  critical  review,  and  of  a 
store  in  the  city,  and  late  an  object  of  Episcopal  prose¬ 
cution  at  Liverpool.  In  England  he  was  at  the  head  of 
a  forum,  and  occupied  some  space  in  the  public  mind. 
What  he  was  there,  he  is  here;  often  fearlessly  speaking, 
writing,  and  inditing  a  good  matter.  He  generally 
preaches  but  to  a  few,  although  on  one  occasion  he  had 
the  honour  of  preaching  in  the  speaker’s  chair  before  the 
President  and  Congress;  a  compliment  for  which  he  was 
indebted  to  the  Honourable  Thomas  Law,  the  brother 
of  the  Right  Reverend  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Chester.  In 
this  matter  the  two  brothers  furnish  a  splendid  contrast. 
Mr.  Thomas  Law  received  him  in  a  strange  land;  paid 
him  all  the  respect  in  his  power;  and  subscribed  100/. 
towards  building  him  a  conventicle. 

[no]  20 th. —  Edward  Wilson,  an  eminent  merchant  of 
Philadelphia,  an  Englishman  of  unspotted  name,  and  a 
Quaker,  brother  to  Thomas  Wilson,  of  Houghton,  Hunts, 
says,  “an  emigrant  recently  came  to  me  with  5,000/. 
sterling,  which  he  put  into  my  hands,  and  in  confidence 
wished  me  to  use  it  for  him  at  my  discretion.  I  did  so, 
and  returned  it  to  him  in  two  years,  having  made  the 
5,000/.  into  8,000/.  He  seemed  well  pleased  with  my 
stewardship.  He  left  in  England  a  discarded  son,  for 
whom  I  prevailed  on  him  to  send.  He  came,  and  the 
old  man  gave  him  200/.  to  start  in  business  here,  while  he 
(the  father)  bought  land  in  the  western  country.  In  less 
than  three  years  the  son  was  the  richest  man  of  the  two. 
I  said  it  would  be  so.” 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


121 


By  mail  I  received  this  morning  150  dollars  from  Lorent 
and  Wulf,  which  I  acknowledged  to  Judge  King,  but 
which  I  lent  to  Jew  Jones  of  Washington  city,  and  which 
he  spent  at  New  York;  when  I  wanted  it  again  he  said  he 
had  never  had  it.  He  was  sued  for  it,  and,  as  defendant, 
gained  his  point,  because  he  had  not  given  me  credit  for 
it  in  his  ledger.  He  is  not  an  Israelite,  indeed,  in  whom 
there  is  no  guile.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  emigrants 
arrived  last  week  at  Baltimore,  and  were  unable  to  get 
employment  there ;  what  disappointment  to  the  poor 
pennyless  wretches !  I  observed  a  venerable  looking 
gentleman  yesterday  at  meeting,  of  the  name  of  Washing¬ 
ton,  a  cousin  of  the  late  [111]  general,  and  much  resem¬ 
bling  him,  it  is  said,  in  person.17  The  memory  of  that 
unequalled  man  seems,  however,  little  revered,  and  his 
family  is  not  more  respected  than  that  of  any  other  person. 
Mr.  Savage,  an  emigrant  from  Downham  in  Norfolk, 
who  married  my  townswoman  Miss  Blinkhorn,  intro¬ 
duced  himself  this  day  to  invite  me  down  to  Marlbor¬ 
ough,  where  he  is  well  settled  as  a  shoemaker.  His  wife 
receives  150  dollars  a  year  and  has  all  the  wood  she 
wants  for  fuel  or  other  purposes,  a  house,  and  four 
acres  of  land,  with  range  for  cows  and  sows;  all  for 
nstructing  two  or  three  children  belonging  to  a  richer- 
ineighbour.  He  loves  the  country.  The  people  are  will 
ing  to  give  or  lend  him  almost  any  thing.  He  states,  that 
making  shoes,  and  raising  tobacco,  are  both  good  trades, 
a  crop  of  the  latter  having  been  worth  from  200  dollars 
to  300  dollars  an  acre;  and  costing  only  about  30  dollars; 
a  fine  profit. 

17  John  Washington,  only  brother  of  Washington’s  father,  had  four  sons, 
but  at  this  time  all  were  dead.  The  cousin  referred  to  may  have  been  either 
Warner  Washington,  son  of  Warner  senior,  or  William  Washington,  son  of 
Augustine,  both  grandsons  of  John  Washington. —  Ed. 


I  22 


Ear/y  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


21  st. —  I  was  formally  introduced  to  Dr.  Beattie  of 
George-town,  the  young  sprightly  eloquent  orator  at  the 
city  forum,  where  he  shines  a  public  defender  of  duelling. 
My  reverend  heterodox  friend  joined  us,  and  contended 
that  the  blacks  have  no  claim  to  a  common  origin  from 
our  father  Adam;  the  form  and  construction  of  their  bones 
and  the  difference  of  their  colour,  constituting  so  com¬ 
plete  a  contrast  with  all  other  nations,  are  held  to  be  posi¬ 
tive  proofs  that  they  spring  from  some  [112]  other  and  in¬ 
ferior  source.  This  doctrine  is  very  palatable  to  America. 
I  regret  that  it  should  be  espoused  by  an  Englishman. 
White  men  here  sell  their  own  yellow  children  in  the  or¬ 
dinary  course  of  business;  and  free  blacks  also  sell  their 
immediate  offspring,  male  and  female. 

Called  on  my  townsfolk,  Jack  Bellcare  and  his  wife; 
both  are  disappointed;  she  would  not  have  left  Sutton, 
could  she  have  counted  the  cost  and  sorrow  of  it,  although 
they  are  getting  a  living,  and  have  disposed  of  their  chil¬ 
dren.  She  keeps  a  little  store;  he  works  and  drinks  heart¬ 
ily,  but  has  not  yet  spent  all  their  Sutton  money;  Jack  left 
a  comfortable  home  and  dairy  behind  him,  and  now  works 
bare-headed  on  the  road,  cursing  the  hot  climate. 

Almost  every  private  family  chariot  in  this  city  is  found 
daily  on  the  stand  as  a  hackney  coach  for  hire,  to  either 
whites  or  blacks;  to  all  who  can  pay. 

22 d. —  I  heard  this  evening  America’s  unequalled 
preacher,  Dr.  Storton  of  Philadelphia.  He  has  one  un¬ 
pardonable  sin;  he  is  an  Englishman,  a  refugee  from  the 
church  of  the  late  Reverend  Samuel  Pearce  of  Birming¬ 
ham.  He  preaches  well,  and  prays  earnestly  and  elo¬ 
quently,  and  that  too,  for  all  white  men,  and  red  men,  and 
black  men  in  Africa,  but  not  for  the  poor  negroes  of  North 
America,  who  are  here  quite  forgotten  by  the  priests,  [113] 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


I23 


who,  would  they  use  it,  have  an  influence  that  might  work 
wonders  in  the  black  man’s  favour.  But  this  would  be 
treason  in  Maryland. 

2  3^-  It  is  remarkable  that  the  cows  graze  loose  all 
over  this  huge  metropolis,  and  come  and  go  of  them¬ 
selves,  night  and  morning,  from  and  to  their  owners’ 
houses  and  yards  for  milking,  after  which  they  are  each 
fed  with  a  quarter  of  a  peck  of  corn  meal. 

Ignorance  and  love  of  animal  indulgence,  it  is  said, 
here  frustrate  and  set  at  nought  the  system  of  repre¬ 
sentation.  A  good  man,  therefore,  cannot  get  into  Con¬ 
gress,  but  a  bad  man,  not  fit  for  a  constable,  often  suc¬ 
ceeds  by  the  means  of  influential  whiskey.  Flatter  vice 
and  folly,  and  you  are  popular.  I  was  here  introduced 
by  Mr.  Elliott  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Law,  (a  well  known 
republican,  brother  of  the  late  Lord  Ellenborough,  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  England)  who  received  me  kindly,  and  on 
his  courteous  invitation  I  promised  to  visit  him. 

“Sun-flowers,”  says  Mr.  Elliott,  “breathe  each  as 
much  in  one  day  as  twelve  men.  I  consider  them  as 
highly  propitious  to  health,  particularly  in  low  and  marshy 
situations;  and  I  therefore  surround  my  hermitage  with 
them.” 

Sunday ,  25 th. —  Young  Rawlings,  late  of  Chatteris, 
called  to  say  that  three  of  my  simple-hearted  countrymen 
from  Gamlingay,  Cambridgeshire,  had  [114]  inquired  for 
me,  and  represented  me  as  a  spy,  but  still  thought  and 
talked  kindly  of  and  wished  to  see  me.  By  a  spy,  they 
did  not  mean  a  government  spy  in  the  common  accepta¬ 
tion  of  that  term.  This  young  quaker  is  an  assistant  in 
a  store  at  300  dollars  a  year  and  board.  He  saves  only 
100  dollars,  and,  if  he  cannot  become  master  of  the  con¬ 
cern,  thinks  of  returning  home,  where  he  can  do  better. 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


i  24 


Yet  he  thinks  100  dollars  here  equal  to  100/.  sterling  in 
England.  Mrs.  Stile,  late  of  Sutton  in  the  Isle,  is  ready 
to  take  the  benefit  of  insolvency,  but  has  disposed  of  her 
daughters  in  matrimony. 

Mr.  Gale,18  a  worthy,  feeling,  meritorious  Englishman 
from  Yorkshire,  and  once  dandled  on  the  poetic  knee  of 
Montgomery,  but  now  at  the  head  of  the  government 
organ,  The  National  Intelligencer ,  says,  that  British  emi¬ 
grants  possess  habits  and  prejudices  which  render  them 
unfit  to  mix  with  the  natives  down  to  the  second  genera¬ 
tion.  They,  therefore,  should  not  attempt  to  associate 
with  North  Americans,  but  should  form  distinct  settle¬ 
ments  like  the  Germans.  Such  a  step  would  insure  them 
success  and  happiness  in  a  new  country;  on  coming  into 
which  they  should  depute  a  confidential  agent  of  their 
own  to  apply  at  the  National  Land  Office  at  Washington, 
where  Mr.  Elliott  and  other  Englishmen,  forming  a  society 
to  instruct  and  guide  emigrants,  would  point  out  to  them 
the  best  sections  of  land  and  climate,  with  [1 15]  their  local 
description,  and  that  without  the  expense  and  labour  of 
looking  and  wandering  all  over  the  empire  to  their  ruin. 

Mr.  Cockin,  an  old  experienced  farmer  from  Lincoln¬ 
shire,  says,  that  on  good  land  50  bushels  of  Indian  corn 
is  raised  at  three  quarters  of  a  dollar,  or  one  dollar  per 
bushel;  and  that  the  English  system,  so  far  as  is  practi- 


18  Joseph  Gales  was  born  in  Sheffield,  England,  1786.  His  father,  a  pub¬ 
lisher  in  that  city,  fell  into  difficulty  with  the  government,  and  came  to  Phila¬ 
delphia  (1793),  editing  for  some  years  the  Independent  Gazetteer  and  later  the 
Raleigh  (North  Carolina)  Register.  Joseph  was  educated  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  learned  printing  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  employed  on  the 
Washington  National  Intelligencer.  In  1810  he  became  sole  proprietor,  but 
a  few  years  later  formed  a  partnership  with  William  Seaton,  his  brother-in- 
law,  the  two  issuing  the  Intelligencer  daily  instead  of  tri-weekly.  They  re¬ 
ported  the  debates  of  Congress,  which  gave  the  paper  a  wide  circulation  and 
a  high  reputation. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ^Journal 


25 


cable,  is  much  wanted  here.  The  American  mode  of 
ploughing  wears  out  the  soil  faster  than  the  cropping. 
They  just  move  and  pulverize  the  surface,  which  in  wet 
or  dry  weather  either  blows  or  washes  away  into  the  valleys. 
By  the  English  mode,  fresh  soil  would  be  raised,  and  the 

exhausted  surface  soil  turned  down  to  rest  and  replenish 
itself. 

26th.  A  propensity  to  cheat  and  deceive,”  says  a 
shrewd  informant,  “pervades  all  classes  of  this  people, 
from  the  lowest  mechanic  and  tradesman,  or  companies 
in  trade,  up  to  nearly  the  first  officer  of  government.  It 
is  the  boasted  qualification  of  the  smart  man .  Thieving 
is  a  characteristic  feature  of  Maryland,  which  is  peopled 
principally  by  Catholics,  who  correct  all  evil  by  absolu¬ 
tion.  .  The  Carolinians  keep  and  train  up  large  dogs  for 
hunting  and  finding  runaway  or  concealed  negroes,  who 
are  easily  scented  and  found  by  them,  if  they  be  in  the 
woods.  The  mode  of  training  is  thus:  Set  a  young  negro 
daily  to  strike  a  pup,  and  then  run  from  it.  This  is  dog¬ 
training.  My  cousin,  Captain  H.  Rugeley,  in  my  pres¬ 
ence  [116]  ordered  a  young  negro  to  strike  a  half-grown 
cui,  which  immediately  seized  the  boy,  who  was  worried 
a  little,  for  my  amusement  and  instruction.  Hence  these 
dogs,  though  generally  docile  and  gentle  to  well  dressed 
whites,  instantly  seize  on  any  strange  black  man  who 
approaches  the  plantation,  just  as  an  English  greyhound 
flies  upon  a  hare. 

I  am  told  that  Mr.  Long,  late  of  Lincolnshire,  wrote 
his  puffing  letters  to  England,  under  feelings  of  great  dis- 
appointment,  and  said  that  he  would  give  1,000  guineas 
to  be  reinstated  in  his  farm  in  Lincolnshire.  Letters 
from  emigrants,  I  have  proved  to  be  at  best  but  question¬ 
able  and  doubtful  authority.  Janson,  author  of  The 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


i  26 


Stranger  in  America ,  it  is  here  said,  came  and  returned  a 
stranger.19  Parkinson,  too,  the  experienced  farmer  and 
brewer  of  Doncaster,  returned  and  said,  the  land  would 
not  grow  grass.20  This  is  not  so  great  a  misrepresenta¬ 
tion  as  it  at  first  sight  appears.  In  many  parts  of  Mary¬ 
land  and  Virginia,  the  grass  seems  indeed  dead,  and  all 
that  survives  is  artificial  grass. 

2 8th. —  When  Mr.  T.  C.  Wright  first  came  to  George¬ 
town,  17  years  since,  the  forest  approached  his  door,  but 

nowT  it  has  receded  a  mile  and  a  half.  The  situation  and 

* 

prospect  of  things  some  years  ago  justified  the  statements 
now  called  Puffs . 

Certain  approaches  to  something  like  equality,  and  con¬ 
sequent  familiarity  of  the  rich  with  the  poor,  both  of  which 
classes  profess  to  be  no  respecters  [1 17]  of  persons,  gen¬ 
erate  a  manner  highly  repelling  to  the  aristocratical  feel¬ 
ings  of  the  well-bred  English.  Dr.  Dawes  was  waited 
on  to-day  by  an  American  proprietor  of  land,  offering 
his  farm  at  six  dollars  an  acre;  the  Doctor  asked  what 
had  been  its  greatest  produce  per  acre?  At  one  time  15 
bushels  of  wheat,  but  now  only  eight  bushels.  He  said 
he  had  lost  money  by  farming,  through  not  pursuing  a 

19  The  Stranger  in  America,  by  Charles  William  Janson,  late  of  Rhode  Island 
(London,  1807).  The  author  states  in  the  preface  that  he  came  to  the  United 
States  (1793)  with  the  intention  of  remaining,  but  disappointment  caused  him 
to  return  to  England.  He  found  America  “in  every  respect  uncongenial  to 
English  habits  and  to  the  tone  of  an  Englishman’s  constitution.”  That  part  of 
the  difficulty  lay  in  himself  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  remained  here  over 
thirteen  years,  and  ‘  ‘  never  was  so  happy  as  to  form  a  true  friendship  with  an 
American.” —  Ed. 

20  Richard  Parkinson  (1748-1815),  was  a  Lincolnshire  farmer  interested  in 
improved  methods  of  agriculture.  He  came  to  Virginia  (1798)  to  farm  a  part 
of  the  estate  of  Mt.  Vernon,  and  in  1805  published  A  Tour  in  America,  1798- 
1800,  to  warn  English  farmers  against  emigrating.  “The  wonderful  disap¬ 
pointment  I  met  with  in  the  barrenness  of  the  land  was  beyond  any  descrip¬ 
tion.  Would  General  Washington  have  given  me  twelve  hundred  acres  I 
would  not  have  accepted  it.”  He  did  not  travel  in  the  West. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Fauxs  'Journal 


1  27 


proper  mode ;  but  could  tell  the  Doctor  of  a  better  mode  if 
he  would  buy  the  farm  offered.  Land  is  frequently  bought 
and  sold,  and  kept  for  many  years,  but  never  paid  for, 
unless  an  offer  above  the  original  cost  is  made  and  ac¬ 
cepted.  Interest  money  is  paid  or  payable  on  the  pur¬ 
chase,  which  is  held  like  a  mortgage,  and  in  time  it  reverts 
to  the  vendor  or  his  heirs. 

I  visited  the  Catholic  university  at  George-town,  to 
witness  the  ceremony,  previous  to  the  vacation,  something 
like  the  Commencement ,  at  Cambridge.  I  found  a  large 
and  splendid  assemblage  of  bishops,  doctors,  priests, 
pupils,  and  spectators  of  all  ranks  and  religions.  The 
young  gentlemen  delivered  their  orations,  after  which  they 
received  prizes  and  degrees  from  the  hands  of  the  arch¬ 
bishop.  This  institution  is  said  to  be  highly  respectable, 
and  is  open  to  all  sects  and  parties  in  religion  or  politics; 
it  is  therefore  a  nursery  of  great  men  for  all  sections  of  the 
empire.  Although  Catholic,  it  professes  not  to  make  pros¬ 
elytes;  yet  many  pupils  are  induced  to  adopt  this  faith, 
and  nearly  all  seem  [118]  to  part  and  meet  with  their  pre¬ 
ceptors  here  as  with  kind  and  indulgent  parents. 

Friend  John  Steed,  a  poor  excommunicated  quaker, 
once  of  Earith  and  Wisbeach,  introduced  himself  to  me 
this  day.  He  feels  grievously  disappointed,  and  wants 
temporary  employment  as  an  assistant  in  a  store.  He  is 
nearly  broken  in  both  spirit  and  pocket,  and  finds  charity 
cold,  and  friends  few  or  none.  He  is  kindly  housed  by 
the  ever  friendly  Dr.  Dawes,  and  thinks  of  returning  soon 
if  he  cannot  succeed.  He  would  not  have  come  here  if  he 
could  have  formed,  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  a  correct 
idea  of  the  state  of  things  in  this  country. 

The  poor  white,  or  white  poor,  in  Maryland,  it  is  said, 
scarcely  ever  work,  but  send  their  children  to  beg,  and  live 


1 28 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


on  corn-meal  and  dried  fish  only.  Working  is  disgraceful 
in  a  slave  state,  where  blacks  only  work.  “Will  you 
work?”  “What,  work?  I’m  no  negro,  I  guess.” 
Thanks  be  given  to  slavery  for  all  this. 

30 th. —  His  Excellency,  James  Monroe,  Esq.,  President 
of  the  United  States,  when  out  of  office,  is  poor,  not  more 
than  able  to  maintain  himself  and  family,  never  having 
had  time  to  gain  a  fortune.21  Our  late  President  Madi¬ 
son,”  (says  friend  Jenny,  to  whom  I  was  this  day  intro¬ 
duced  by  Dr.  Dawes,)  “was,  and  is  a  poor  man.  He 
married  a  poor  quaker  girl,  one  of  a  large  family  of  girls, 
raised  in  a  boarding-house,  but  now  all  married  to  [119] 
Congress-men.22  While  Madison  was  President,  his  wife, 
Dolly  Madison,  used  frequently  to  visit  our  friend’s  meet¬ 
ing-house  in  George- town,  though  she  was  no  longer  a 
quaker.” 

I  rode  all  day  with  friend  Jenny,  and  slept  at  his  house. 
He  is  a  shrewd  land-jobber,  who  has  quickly  enriched 
himself.  His  eyes  are  in  his  head,  and  he  sees  all  points 
of  the  compass  at  one  view.  By  him  I  was  kindly  accom¬ 
panied  to  the  beautiful  mansion  and  plantation  of - 

Loughborough,  Esq.,  the  most  intelligent  agriculturist 
(except  Mr.  Day,  of  Camden,)  whom  I  have  yet  seen. 
This  gentleman  offers  his  beautiful  much-improved  farm 
and  mansion  at  200  dollars,  or  45/.  sterling  an  acre,  just 
two  miles  from  the  city.  This  price  was  thought  too  high. 
Mr.  Jenny  says,  that  100  acres  of  land  is  plenty  for  an 
industrious  family,  who  will  net  1,000  dollars  a  year,  ex- 

21  President  Monroe’s  resources  were  narrowed  in  the  latter  portion  of  his 
life.  '  He  died  at  the  home  of  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  L.  Gouvemeur,  in  New 
York,  where  he  had  spent  his  last  years. —  Ed. 

22  In  1794  Madison  married  Dorothy  Todd,  originally  Dorothy  Paine,  who 
became  the  celebrated  “Dolly”  Madison  of  Washington  society.  She  was  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends. —  Ed.  , 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


1 29 


elusive  of  maintenance.  Land  15  miles  N.  W.  of  George¬ 
town,  and  about  Rockville,  is  better  than  it  appears  to 
be;  for,  out  of  cultivation,  it  has  no  face,  never  having  been 
sown  with  grass  seeds.  Some  time  since  it  cost  7  dollars 
an  acre,  and  is  now  offered  at  15  dollars,  with  good  build¬ 
ings,  fences,  and  other  improvements. 

Sunday ,  August  1st. —  I  heard  the  Rev.  Dr.  Allison,  a 
judicious  Gillite,23  and  chaplain  to  Congress;  and,  in  the 
evening,  I  attended  an  interesting  [120]  conversation  at 
the  hospitable  seat  of  T.  C.  Wright,  where  I  met  several 
native  and  adopted  citizens.  Emigration  was  the  theme. 
It  was  agreed  that  emigrants  should  all  come  in  the  temper 
and  spirit  of  the  fathers,  the  first  settlers;  that,  ultimately, 
such  pioneers  as  Birkbeck  and  Flower  in  the  wilderness, 
must  benefit  themselves,  and  that  the  last  twenty  years’ 
history  of  emigrants  furnishes  encouragement  still  to  emi¬ 
grate.  “The  English,”  says  Mr.  Wright,  “who  have  to 
live  here  by  their  own  hands,  make  the  most  dissatisfied 
of  labourers.  They  run  all  over  the  land  in  quest  of  the 
highest  wages;  and  in  so  doing,  lose  half  the  week  in  find¬ 
ing  wages  for  the  other  half,  and  part  with  the  substance 
for  a  shadow. 

Two  or  three  of  the  English  have  this  day  and  recently 
fallen  dead  at  the  city  fountains,  in  consequence  of  drink¬ 
ing  excessively  of  cold  water,  while  they  were  in  high  per¬ 
spiration,  under  a  heat,  by  the  therm.  98°  and  ioo°,  in 
the  shade.  To  avoid  this  danger,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
drink  a  wine-glass  half  full  of  brandy  first,  and  a  pint  of 
water  immediately  after.  Thirst  is  thus  safely  quenched, 

23  Calvinists  are  here  called  Gillites,  or  disciples  of  the  late  Dr.  John  Gill. — 
Faux. 

Comment  by  Ed. —  Disciples  of  John  Gill  (1697-1771),  an  English  Baptist 
clergyman,  for  fifty  years  pastor  of  a  London  church,  and  an  eminent  theological 
writer. 


I3° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


with  much  less  water  than  would  be  necessary  without  the 
spirits. 

yd. —  Previous  to  a  heavy  thunder-storm  this  morn¬ 
ing,  a  hurricane  came  on  (a  common  precursor)  and 
raised  dense  clouds  of  dust,  which  thickened  and  darkened 
the  horizon,  and  made  all  look  like  London  in  a  dark 
smoky  fog  in  November;  [121]  but  when  the  rain  fell,  the 
atmosphere  resumed  its  transparency.  During  the  con¬ 
tinuance  of  the  storm,  the  heat  was  the  greatest  ever  known 
here,  being  ioiJ°  in  the  shade. 

Unnatural  prematurity  is  here  very  common.  Boys 
look  grave,  and  talk,  act,  and  dress  like  men,  and  expect 
and  exact  the  same  treatment  as  men,  though  only  12  or 
13  years  old. 

The  poet  Bloomfield,24  Author  of  The  Farmer's  Boy , 
has  a  sister  living  at  Alexandria;  and  in  its  vicinity  live 
two  of  the  ancient  family  of  Fairfax,25  on  immense  estates, 
granted  at  an  early  period  to  a  branch  of  their  house, 
but  which,  owing  to  want  of  management  and  prudence, 
are  found  to  be  insufficient  for  the  support  of  their  several 
households. 

5 th. —  That  prominent  want  of  respect  for  rule  and 
rulers  apparent  here,  may  I  think  be  traced  to  the  dis¬ 
orderly  economy  of  private  families.  The  children  are 

24  Robert  Bloomfield  (1766-1823),  the  English  poet  who,  while  an  appren¬ 
tice  to  a  London  shoemaker,  wrote  The  Farmers  Boy  (London,  1800),  which 
became  very  popular  in  several  languages. —  Ed. 

25  See  volume  xii  of  our  series,  Part  II  of  Faux’s  Journal ,  p.  479  (original 
pagination).  Thomas,  fifth  Lord  Fairfax,  married  a  daughter  of  Lord  Cul¬ 
pepper  and  thus  acquired  a  large  estate  in  Virginia.  His  domain  included 
twenty-one  counties,  comprising  nearly  a  fourth  the  area  of  the  commonwealth. 
His  son  Thomas,  sixth  Lord  Fairfax,  took  up  his  residence  in  Virginia  (1745) 
and  being  a  loyalist  in  the  Revolution,  a  large  part  of  the  estate  was  confiscated. 
The  mother  of  Thomas,  the  Lord  Fairfax  (1762-1846)  of  Faux’s  time,  was 
George  Washington’s  niece. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  'Journal 


1  'll 


rarely  forbidden  or  punished  for  wrong  doing,  being  only 
kindly  solicited  to  do  right ;  nor  is  strict  discipline  tolerated 
in  schools.  Hence  respect  and  obedience  to  parents, 
guardians,  masters,  and  governors,  is  never  implanted, 
or  soon  eradicated.  Authority,  in  consequence,  whether 
public  or  private,  civil  or  religious,  is  neither  feared,  nor 
willingly  obeyed,  through  any  period  of  life. 

Sunday ,  8th. —  I  heard  this  morning  a  Scotchman,  Dr. 
Laurie,  who  at  the  end  of  every  sentence  [122]  seems  to 
have  finished  his  oration.  He  appeared  to  me  to  be  a 
man  of  but  little  talent.  The  psalms  in  use  here  would 
disgrace  a  school-boy’s  theme.  My  first  impressions  on 
the  subject  of  religious  worship  in  America  are  not  re¬ 
moved.  Religion  still  appears  to  me  to  be  a  matter  little 
understood  and  much  less  regarded  than  in  England. 

Doctor  Dawes  and  Friend  Steed. —  The  former  has 
bought  a  farm  of  400  acres  of  poor  land,  and  no  build¬ 
ings,  seven  miles  from  this  city,  at  10  dollars  an  acre. 
The  latter  (Steed)  might  engage  himself  at  300  or  400 
dollars  a  year  and  board.  What  would  they  have  more  ? 
Both,  however,  are  eternally  croaking,  and  write  home 
unfavourable  reports.  They  yet  concede  to  me  this  fact; 
namely,  that  in  this  country  lives  a  population  of  several 
millions,  rapidly  increasing  in  an  unprecedented  degree, 
and  living  (blacks  excepted)  as  a  whole,  in  a  state  of 
society  and  animal  ease,  greater  than  in  any  other  country 
since  the  world  began.  My  friend  Wilson,  of  Houghton, 
Hunts,  is  much  mistaken  in  his  statements,  in  which  he 
endeavours  to  prove  a  net  annual  loss  of  146/.  in  cultivat¬ 
ing  200  acres  of  land  in  America. 

9 th. —  I  this  day  visited  Alexandria.  When  the  British 
invaded  it  last  war,  they  took  away  and  freighted  with 


1 32 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


flour,  tobacco,  bacon,  and  other  provisions,  21  vessels 
from  Bermuda  and  the  West  Indies.26  In  this  port,  four 
miles  from  Washington,  were  seen  young  men  of  the 
British  navy,  all  armed  [123]  against  their  own  fathers  and 
brothers,  emigrants  quietly  settled  here. 

John  Steed’s  quaker  brother,  an  emigrant  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  feels  satisfied  that  he  is  away  from  England.  I  re¬ 
ceived  this  morning  a  pressing  invitation  by  post,  from 
John  Ingle,  my  old  school-fellow,  settled  in  Indiana  only 
1,500  miles  off  me !  He  feels  perfect  satisfaction  in  a  new 
and  flourishing  settlement.  I  accept  it. 

nth. —  The  attachment  of  goods  here  is  common  in 
the  absence  of  the  body.  One  state  is  a  refuge  for  the 
debtors  of  another,  and  this  circumstance  constitutes  a 
perpetual  inducement  to  plunder  and  migration.  The 
British  are  much  addicted  to  these  practices.  They  may 
be  followed  into  other  states,  but  so  great  is  the  expense 
and  difficulty  of  suing  such  refugees,  that  it  is  rarely 
attempted.  The  peaches  are  very  small  this  season,  but 
Mr.  Cocker,  last  year,  saw  them  weighing  from  12  to  14 
oz.  each. 

The  Cammucks  of  George-town,  two  brothers  from 
Lincolnshire,  came  hither  two  years  ago,  unable  to  pay 
their  passage:  now,  one  is  buying  10  acres  of  rich  land  for 
800  dollars,  paying  down  500  dollars  on  account.  The 
other  began  with  a  small  school,  and  in  three  months  was 
able  to  pay  the  captain  for  his  passage,  and  keep  himself 
well,  and  soon  raised  money  enough  to  go  to  the  Western 

26  Upon  the  capture  of  Washington  by  the  British  in  August,  1814  (see 
Evans’s  Tour,  volume  viii  of  our  series,  note  30),  the  people  of  Alexandria  were 
so  terrified  that  they  offered  to  purchase  peace.  The  terms  submitted  to  them 
were  to  give  up  ‘  ‘  all  naval  and  military  stores,  all  ships  and  ship  furniture,  all 
merchandise  then  in  the  place,  and  all  that  had  been  sent  away  for  safety.” 
These  conditions  were  accepted,  and  for  three  days  the  British  fleet  lay  off  the 
city  shipping  flour,  tobacco,  and  stores;  in  all  worth  over  $100,000. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


1 33 


country.  Friend  Steed  engages  himself  to  Jones  and  Co. 
and  begins  to  repent  of  having  [124]  written  such  deplor¬ 
able  statements  against  this  country.  Letters  of  emigrants 
and  travellers  should  not  be  rashly  written,  because  they 
are  shown  long  after  the  writer  becomes  ashamed  of  them. 
An  emigrant,  unable  at  New  York  and  Baltimore  to  get 
employment  in  his  trade,  and  not  to  be  persuaded  to  try 
the  towns  near,  paid  his  passage  this  week  for  England, 
but  first  inquired  at  the  news  offices  for  papers  stating  the 
number  out  of  employment,  which  amounts  to  1500  fami¬ 
lies  collected  in  New  York  city,  all  in  distress  seeking  a 
refuge  in  Canada.  Mr.  Perry  offered  several  stone¬ 
masons,  willing  and  able  to  work,  to  the  Pennsylvanian 
farmers  at  half  a  dollar  per  day,  and  to  keep  themselves, 
but  none  were  wanted.  There  is  no  money  to  pay  them 
with. 

14 th. —  Dined  with  Mr.  Eno,late  of  Tyd,  near  Wisbeach, 
a  citizen  of  the  world,  a  kind-hearted  man  to  emigrants 
generally,  and  who  preserves  entire,  for  those  who  call  at 
his  tavern,  all  his  original  English  feelings  mixed  up  with 
American  hospitality.  He  thinks  that  few  emigrants  ever 
rise  above  their  former  stations,  or  meet  with  any  thing 
here  which  should  induce  them  to  quit  their  homes  in 
England;  while  the  bulk  of  those  who  come,  both  masters 
and  labourers,  remain  miserably  poor.  “With  respect  to 
myself,  (says  he)  if  I  had  a  fortune  I  would  live  in  Eng¬ 
land;  as  I  have  not,  I  am  better  off  here.”  I  gathered 
from  the  ground  under  a  tree  in  his  garden,  plums  half 
[125]  roasted  and  too  hot  almost  to  hold  in  the  hand  or 
mouth,  and  eating  like  fruit  half  baked.  Heat  96°  in  the 
shade.  This  is  a  demoralizing  climate,  and  to  it  may  be 
traced  that  prominent  want  of  industry  and  good  habits 
invariably  seen  and  felt  in  this  dissolving  warmth. 


1 34 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Sunday ,  15  th. —  Killing  in  a  duel  was  last  month  decided 
in  a  court  at  Halifax,  to  be  no  murder,  provided  the  matter 
was  fairly  conducted.  Thus  it  is  that  custom  obtains  a 
power  superior  to  the  law,  which  deems  it  murder.  The 
law  then,  thus  insulted,  had  better  be  expunged  from  the 
statute  book  of  British  America.  Four  grand  duels  have 
been  fought  this  week  near  this  metropolis  by  young  men 
of  the  United  States’  navy  and  army,  who  are  always 
practising,  by  shooting  at  targets  and  other  marks.  The 
President,  for  such  crimes  as  these,  has  the  power  to  break 
and  disgrace  any  officer  of  either  army  or  navy;  but,  such 
is  the  power  of  custom,  that  he  cannot  and  dare  not  do  it. 

16th. —  Picture  0}  the  condition  0}  the  American  people , 
agricultural  and  otherwise.  Low  ease;  a  little  avoidable 
want,  but  no  dread  of  any  want;  little  or  no  industry;  little 
or  no  real  capital,  nor  any  effort  to  create  any ;  no  strug¬ 
gling,  no  luxury,  and,  perhaps,  nothing  like  satisfaction  or 
happiness;  no  real  relish  of  life;  living  like  store  pigs  in  a 
wood,  or  fattening  pigs  in  a  stye.  All  their  knowledge  is 
confined  to  a  newspaper,  which  they  [126]  all  love,  and 
consists  in  knowing  their  natural,  and  some  political  rights, 
which  rights  in  themselves  they  respect  individually,  but 
often  violate  towards  others,  being  cold,  selfish,  gloomy, 
inert,  and  with  but  little  or  no  feeling.  The  government 
is  too  weak  and  too  like-minded  to  support  and  make  the 
laws  respected,  or  to  teach  the  people  justly  to  appreciate 
their  excellent,  but  affronted  constitution. —  “There  are 
amongst  them,”  says  Mr.  Perry,  “no  materials  or  seeds  of 
appreciation  for  it.  It  was  by  mere  accident  that  they 
ever  had  a  constitution;  it  came  not  from  wise  choice  or 
preference.  In  England  only,  exists  such  a  preference 
and  real  love  of  liberty.  She  must  continue  to  be  the 
Great  Nation  in  spite  of  all  her  enemies,  foreign  or  domes- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


J35 


tic,  while  America,  you  see,  is  retrograding  and  quite  un¬ 
able  of  herself  to  achieve  any  thing  grand.  Whatever  she 
does  is  by  instruction  and  foreign  aid,  without  which  she 
cannot  advance.  If  A,  B,  C,  be  taught  her,  she  cannot 
teach  herself  D;  yet  she  possesses  the  boasting,  vain¬ 
glorious  egotism  of  all-knowing  Europe,  although  of  and 
in  herself,  knowing  nothing.  Almost  all  Americans  are 
boys  in  every  thing  but  vice  and  folly!  In  their  eyes 

Uncle  Sam  is  a  right  slick,  mighty  fine,  smart,  big 
man.” 

Great  evil  results  to  emigrants  from  not  coupling  good 
and  evil  statements  relating  to  America.  Not  half  the 
number  would  come  if  they  were  but  [127]  properly  in¬ 
formed  and  enlightened.  Under  such  impressions,  those 

who  would  then  come  would  be  generally  of  the  right 
sort. 

In  October,  at  the  fairs  in  Pennsylvania  all  is  fine, 
mighty  fine,  and  dashy  flashy.  The  Dutch  women  then 
shine  and  look  gay;  but  at  home  are  like  slaves,  living  hard, 
and  ploughing  all  day  in  the  hot  fields.  ‘  ‘More  robberies 
and  murders,  says  Mr.  Perry,  “are  committed  in  Vir¬ 
ginia,  than  in  all  England.  Whole  families  are  murdered 
at  once,  and  buried  in  a  hole  in  the  woods,  and  three  or 
four  slaves  are  wantonly  shot  and  buried  at  once,  when 
not  useful  nor  marketable.  But  all  this  seldom  excites 
any  notice,  or  is  much  known,  in  or  beyond  the  neighbour¬ 
hood.  It  is  indeed  good  policy  to  conceal  it,  as  the  making 
it  known,  it  is  said,  might  and  does  increase  the  evil. 
Human  life  is  little  valued  in  America. ” 

In  conformity  with  my  resolution  to  give  an  impartial 
account  of  all  I  meet  with,  I  have  mentioned  Mr.  Perry’s 
statements  and  impressions,  which  must,  however,  I  am 
informed,  be  received  with  much  caution  and  qualification; 


136 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


because,  though  capable  of  judging,  he  is  not  cool  and 
sober  enough  for  unprejudiced,  patient,  and  correct 
observation. 

19  th. —  I  visited  the  beautiful  rural  seat  and  pleasure 
grounds  of  the  late  poet  and  minister,  Joel  Barlow,  on 
the  heights  of  George- town. 2 7  I  made  many  inquiries  after 
this  celebrated  author  [128]  of  the  Columbiad ,  before  I 
could  learn  when,  where,  and  how  he  died  and  was  buried ; 
circumstances  now  scarcely  known.  He  seemed  almost 
forgotten.  He  died  while  minister  from  this  country  to 
the  court  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  and  in  pursuing  him 
towards  Russia,  to  obtain  the  removal  of  decrees  against 
commerce.  A  tomb,  into  which  I  am  now  looking,  was 
built  for  him  on  this  estate,  but  it  is  still  empty.  His  body 
was  sought  for,  but,  it  is  said,  could  not  be  found.  A  few 
graves  mark  these  forlorn  domains. 

Visited  Mr.  Simpson,  and  viewed  his  English-like  farm, 
about  which  I  had  heard  much  boasting,  and  much  about 

27  Joel  Barlow  (born  in  Redding,  Connecticut,  1754)  was  a  graduate  of 
Yale.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  which  he  had  served  as 
chaplain  (1780-83),  he  began  the  practice  of  law  at  Hartford,  Connecticut. 
In  1789  he  published  an  epic  poem,  The  Vision  of  Columbus,  which  brought 
him  into  wide  public  notice.  Becoming  agent  for  the  Scioto  Land  Company, 
he  went  to  France  (1788),  to  advertise  their  Western  lands.  Three  years  later 
he  removed  to  London  and  joined  a  republican  club;  but  his  political  work, 
Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders ,  being  proscribed  by  the  government,  he  re¬ 
turned  to  France,  abandoned  politics  and  devoted  himself  to  letters.  In  1805 
he  purchased  an  estate  near  Washington,  and  there  wrote  the  Columbiad,  or 
Vision  of  Columbus  enlarged.  He  reluctantly  consented  to  serve  as  minister  to 
France  (1811),  and  met  his  death  in  Poland  (1812),  as  Faux  relates.  The  Co¬ 
lumbiad  played  an  important  part  in  the  “War  of  the  Reviewers”  (see  Preface). 
“  Literature  the  Americans  have  none  .  .  .  There  is  a  small  account  of  Vir¬ 
ginia  by  Jefferson,  and  an  epic  by  Joel  Barlow  .  .  .  and  some  pieces  of  pleas¬ 
antry  by  Mr.  Irving”  ( Edinburgh  Review,  xxxi,  p.  144).  When  Americans 
resented  the  general  charge,  they  were  accused  of  “smarting  under  a  Scotch 
critic’s  treatment  of  Joel  Barlow’s  inspiration.”  To  which  Edward  Everett 
replied,  ‘  ‘  nothing  is  more  notorious  than  that  the  ‘  Columbiad  ’  has  ever  been 
regarded  by  the  judicious  public  in  our  country  as  a  total  failure,  that  it  has  been 
read  little  and  liked  less.”  ( North  American  Review,  xiii,  p.  29). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


1 37 


his  getting  money  as  fast  as  he  could  count  it.  I  saw, 
however,  nothing  in  the  English  style  but  whitethorn 
quicks,  or  fences  in  the  English  form;  which,  though  old, 
were  so  thin  and  full  of  gaps  that  stock  are  not  kept  in 
without  an  inner  fence  of  posts  and  rails.  The  climate 
is  thought  to  be  unpropitious  to  the  growth  of  these  beau¬ 
tiful  and  useful  ornaments.  This  estate  is  the  only  one 
on  which  I  have  seen  the  experiment  tried.  Here  is  a 
low  mean  house  and  a  garden  in  ruins,  and  a  small  barn, 
surrounded  by  tittle  heaps,  (not  stacks) ;  60  acres  of  wheat, 
30  of  oats,  20  of  rye,  no  sheep,  about  15  cow-kine;  wheat 
averages  10,  oats  12  to  16,  rye  10  to  12  bushels  an  acre. 
A  large  English  bam  would  hold  all  the  grain  in  the  straw, 
although  it  is  all  mowed  or  cradled.  The  straw  and  hay 
all  goes  [129]  to  the  city  market  for  the  horses  of  the 
President  and  Foreign  Ambassador,  who  pay  well  for  it, 
and  therefore,  as  the  straw  is  worth  almost  as  much  as  the 
grain,  little  or  no  manure  is  made,  and  the  land  is  of  course 
starved.  Turnips,  except  a  patch,  are  never  grown.  Such 
a  system  wears  out  the  land,  and  if  introduced  into  Eng¬ 
land  would  soon  cause  famine,  or  make  us  dependent  on 
other  lands  for  bread.  I  saw  here  a  fine  Spring  dairy ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  dairy  of  stone  built  over  a  spring  of  pure 
cold  water  continually  flowing  through,  and  round  it,  so 
that  the  milk  and  cream-vessels  may  stand  in  water  to 
prevent  the  butter  from  turning  to  stinking  oil,  which  it 
soon  does  when  exposed  to  the  common  atmospheric  air. 
These  spring-dairies,  and  smoke-houses  for  drying  bacon, 
are  indispensable  appendages  to  an  American  farm.  In 
the  evening  I  sat  and  smoked  segars  till  bed- time,  with 
this  good,  kind-hearted  man,  in  a  honeysuckle  bower, 
about  which  were  buzzing  several  humming  birds.  ‘  ‘You 
see,”  said  my  host,  “several  large  farms  around  you,  not 
able  to  maintain  even  their  negroes  from  the  produce,  so 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


!38 


barbarous  is  their  management;  yet  none  of  the  land  is  so 
poor  as  not  to  bear  almost  spontaneously,  plenty  of  peaches, 
cherries,  apples,  and  plums,  wherever  men  or  birds  plant 
them.” 

215/. —  In  the  navy-yard  of  this  city  is  now  living  a  free 
black  man,  who,  together  with  his  wife  and  a  large  family, 
all  free,  were  stolen  away  from  [130]  their  own  house  in 
the  dead  of  the  night,  and  sold  into  the  distant  state  of 
Georgia.  He  alone  managed  to  escape,  but  the  rest  have 
never  since  been  seen  or  heard  of.  Such  outrages  on 
humanity  and  Christianity  provoke  no  investigation,  for 
Mammon,  the  supreme  deity,  must  not  be  affronted.  It  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  a  whole  family  of  free-born  people, 
living  in  the  core  of  a  free  nation,  the  freest  of  the  free, 
could  thus  fare  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

By  the  papers  to-day,  I  learn  that  travellers  to  the  west 
were,  last  week,  publicly  assaulted  and  plundered  by 
hordes  of  labourers  at  work  on  the  great  western  road,28 
who  stopped  the  United  States’  mail,  demanding  dollars 
and  guineas  from  all  the  travellers,  and  lifting  up  their 
axes  to  strike  all  those  who  refused  to  deliver  up  their  cash. 
There  is  no  redress,  because  on  seeking  justice,  the  parties 
complaining  must  be  bound  over  to  prosecute.  But  this 
is  inconvenient,  and  summary  justice  cannot  be  had;  and 
therefore  the  thief  escapes  with  complete  impunity. 

The  natural  soil  is  never  to  be  made  so  fruitful  as  in 
England,  for  except  in  river  bottoms,  (land,  in  the  valleys 
of  rivers,)  it  is  water-proof,  and  incapable  of  saturation. 
The  rain  never  soaks  in,  but  runs  off  as  from  a  duck’s  back. 
Dig  a  spit  or  two  deep,  and  it  is  dry  and  dusty  within  a 
few  inches  of  the  surface.  This  dryness  contributes  to 

28  For  the  Cumberland  Road,  see  Harris’s  Journal ,  volume  iii  of  our  series, 
note  45. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal  « 


1 39 


increase  the  great  superabundant  heat  which  is  [131]  here 
felt;  for  the  soil  reflects  and  retains  the  sun’s  heat,  which 
rises  all  night,  and  makes  the  common  air  like  the  breath 
of  an  oven ;  hence  the  thermometer  falls  not,  but  is  station¬ 
ary  night  and  day  in  the  shade;  these  things  are  not  so 
where  the  earth  can  be  saturated  with  rain.  The  plaster 
of  Paris  so  much  talked  of  does  not  enrich  the  soil;  it  only 
kills  a  destructive  species  of  animalcula ,  and  insects  which 
prey  on  the  roots  of  clover  and  grain. 

The  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  best  for 
an  English  farmer  of  any  condition,  who  cannot  live  in 
England;  but,  if  he  can  by  any  honest  means  make  both 
ends  meet,  he  ought  to  stay  at  home,  or  if  he  will  emigrate, 
let  it  not  be  to  the  western  wilderness  of  this  country,  nor 
to  any  of  the  southern  states. 

23rd. —  In  a  long  conversation  with  several  emigrants, 
we  decided  that  farms,  whether  small  or  great,  near  cities 
and  good  towns  in  the  eastern  states,  are  always  to  be 
preferred  in  point  of  interest  to  any  in  the  wilderness  or 
elsewhere.  For  in  them,  society  is  comparatively  good, 
and  markets  for  produce  sure  in  all  years,  for  all  that  can 
be  raised;  whereas  in  the  west  there  is  no  market,  except 
when  England  and  Europe,  (generally  at  peace  with 
America,)  are  short  of  grain.  No  home  market  can  be 
expected  until  they  become  thickly  populated.  The  west 
is  only  fit  for  emigrants  of  very  small  means,  and  large 
working  [132]  families;  all  workers.  Those  who,  like  Dr. 
Dawes,  come  here  to  know  that  their  evils  at  home  were 
comparatively  imaginary  and  unreal,  cannot  return  too 
soon. 

I  visited  and  inspected  the  Doctor’s  farm,  five  miles 
from  the  city,  consisting  of  400  acres  all  in  a  wild,  neg¬ 
lected,  exhausted,  and  abandoned  condition,  but  suscep- 


140 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


tible  of  regeneration  by  good  management.  The  soil  is 
deep  and  of  a  brown  loamy  sand,  which  sparkles  like  silver 
ore,  or  with  what  the  Doctor  calls  mica.  It  is  so  deeply 
bedded  or  rooted  with  sharp  sedgy  grass,  that  a  yoke  of 
six  oxen  seems  necessary  for  heaving  it  the  first  and  second 
time.  He  determines  on  sowing  it,  when  fit,  with  grass- 
seeds,  tares,  turnips,  and  other  green  crops,  but  no  corn 
or  grain,  until  he  can  double  the  quantity  per  acre  grown 
by  his  neighbours.  The  former  proprietor  was  always 
unable  to  support  himself  and  his  negroes  on  this  estate; 
and  once,  in  a  half-starved  plight,  went  for  food  to  his 
neighbour,  Mr.  Simpson,  who  supplied  him  with  corn- 
meal. 

Farms  and  Farming  in  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Ten  bushels  an  acre  were  here  deemed  a  living  profit 
by  some  farmers.  “For  ten  years,”  says  Mr.  Cocker, 
‘  ‘they  resisted  plaster  of  Paris  and  good  management,  as 
an  innovation  by  which  they  conceived  the  land  would  be 
spoiled.  At  last  they  were  convinced  by  starvation,  and  by 
seeing,  [133]  under  a  better  system,  20  or  30  bushels  an 
acre,  where  once  they  raised  only  seven,  eight,  or  ten,  with¬ 
out  plaster.  Mr.  Worsley,  an  English  farmer  from 
Lincolnshire,  now  a  first-rate  manager  in  Virginia,  has 
in  about  15  years  gained  5,000/.  by  farming,  although 
he  began  with  only  500/.  He  says  he  has  not  introduced 
the  English  system,  because  it  is  not  suited  to  the  climate, 
which,  at  best,  is  unfavourable  to  agriculture,  as  instanced 
in  washing  rains  and  forcing  heats.  The  former  expose 
the  roots  of  grain  and  rob  them  of  the  soil;  and  the 
latter  draw  the  plants  fast,  and  make  them,  particularly 
if  thickly  sown,  very  weak  and  long,  before  harvest.  It 
is  in  consequence  laid  flat  on  the  surface,  and  the  produce 


1818-1819]  Faux's  Journal  141 

and  quality  are  not  half  so  good  and  abundant  as  from  a 
thin  standing  crop.  One  bushel  and  a  half  of  wheat  for 
seed  is  plenty.  Three  have  been  tried ;  but  far  from  being 
any  advantage,  this  additional  quantity  rather  injures  the 
crop.  Although  manure  is  not  so  necessary,  nor  so  capa¬ 
ble  of  being  used  to  the  same  advantage  as  in  England,  it 
is  here  too  much  despised.  To  sell  all  the  hay  and  straw, 
when  a  good  price  can  be  obtained,  and  to  buy  plaster,  is 
held  to  be  better  than  manuring,  because  the  plaster  is 
cheap,  and  there  is  no  labour  in  using  it,  and  by  binding 
and  stiffening  loose,  light,  and  hot  soils,  it  protects  them 
against  the  washing  rains.”  Mr.  W.  thinks  ten  bushels 
of  wheat  per  acre  too  little  for  the  farmer.  Even  if  [134] 
it  sells  at  one  dollar  per  bushel,  it  pays  little  more  than  the 
cost.  4  ‘Labour,”  says  he,  ‘  ‘is  quite  as  costly  as  in  Eng¬ 
land,  whether  done  by  slaves,  or  by  hired  whites,  and  it 
is  also  much  more  troublesome.  Although  much  of  it  is 
not  needed,  yet  more  than  is  done  ought  to  be  done.  It 
would  pay  well,  and  be  money  well  spent.  We  give  three 
quarters  of  a  dollar  per  day,  all  the  year  about,  except  in 
harvest,  when  it  is  dollar,  or  6s.  9 d.  sterling  and  board. 
A  year  in  some  farming  States,  such  as  Pennsylvania,  is 
only  of  eight  months  duration,  four  months  being  lost  to 
the  labourer,  who  is  turned  away  as  an  useless  animal  to 
starve  on  a  bare  common,  if  he  has  not  laid  up  for  this 
evil  day.  Mr.  Worsley’s  land  is  worth  100  dollars  per 
acre,  but  has  only  dead  fences  and  no  quicks,  or  green 
hedges;  all  woven  fences.  The  greatest  produce  of  wheat 
and  com  averages,  under  the  best  management,  from  16 
to  20  bushels  of  wheat  —  20  to  30  of  Indian  corn  —  Rye, 
16  to  20  —  and  barley  less  than  wheat.  The  system  of 
cropping  is,  Indian  corn  or  Red  Clover,  before  wheat. 
The  clovers,  both  white  and  red,  are  very  abundant,  run- 


1 42 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


ning  high  up  to  the  breast  of  a  man,  but  are  laid  flat  by  the 
rains  and  their  own  weight  of  head  and  leaf,  producing  in 
hay  two  tons  per  acre.  It  seems  a  highly  profitable  species 
of  produce;  for  if  depastured,  it  fattens  all  the  cattle  and 
pigs  without  com,  before  winter.  Many  sheep  cannot 
be  kept  in  summer.  Little  mutton  or  wool  is  [135]  wanted, 
and  were  they  generally  marketable,  there  is  no  winter 

-  O  J 

food  for  sheep.  Turnips  do  not  prosper;  they  cannot  be 
raised  so  as  to  attain  any  size,  and  if  they  could,  eyen 
Swedish  turnips,  the  most  hardy  of  all,  would  not  endure 
the  frosts.  All  would  rot,  and  the  sheep,  unless  housed 
and  fed,  must  perish.'’ 

26///. —  With  a  large  part}'  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  I 
yisited  the  great  falls  of  Potowmac,  15  miles  west  of  Wash¬ 
ington.  On  my  way  thither  I  saw  no  good  farms  nor 
farmers,  but  much  land  in  possession  of  people,  who  neither 
occupy  nor  wish  in  anywise  to  improve  it.  They  farm  on 
a  swinish  system,  and  raise  from  10  to  15  bushels  of  Indian 
com,  and  eight  to  ten  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre.  Poor, 
indolent  farmers!  Here  I  saw  plenty  of  peaches  wild, 
and  planted  by  birds.  About  the  rocky  falls  of  this  river 
all  is  wild,  romantic,  savage,  and  sublime,  to  a  degree  be¬ 
yond  my  power  to  describe.  Here  are  pits,  or  quarries  of 
marble,  an  infinite  supply’  When  polished,  it  is  beauti¬ 
fully  veined ;  a  dark  blue  grev,  red  and  black.  The  capital 
here  finds  its  majestic  pillars. 

Mr.  Birkbeck’s  letter  to  emigrants  landing  in  the  eastern 
ports,  appeared  this  day  in  the  city  Gazette.  It  contained 
little  new;  only  wishing  them  to  examine  and  judge  for 
themselves  between  his  settlement  in  Illinois  and  those  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Worsley  thinks  that  the  west  is  the  best  destination 
for  poor  industrious  farmers,  who  will  [136]  there  live  well 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  ^Journal 


*43 


on  their  own  good  land,  and  encrease  its  value,  but  capital 
is  best  employed  near  cities  and  towns,  where  there  is  a  cer¬ 
tain  market.  “But,”  says  Mr.  Perry,  in  reply,  “ten  acres 
near  New  York  or  Philadelphia,  or  in  such  states,  are  in¬ 
finitely  better  for  a  poor  man  than  hundreds  of  acres  in  the 
west.  I  know  of  60  acres  at  Feversham,  in  my  native 
Kent,  which  average  200 1.  a  year  net  profit,  after  immense 
taxes,  tithes,  and  poor  rates,  are  deducted.  How  much 
happier  must  a  man  be  there  than  in  the  west,  with  2,000 
unprofitable  acres.  You  talk  of  your  wild  turkeys  and 
your  game,  but  they  are  not  there;  game  is  more  scarce 
than  in  England.  No  honest  answer  to  inquiries  can  be 
had  in  the  west,  or  elsewhere.  All  praise  and  lie,  because 
all  wish  to  sell,  and  think  the  inquirer  wants  to  buy.” 
Commodore  Barney  admits  the  truth  of  Perry's  statements 
respecting  the  country’  generally. 

30 th. —  Mr.  Birkbeck  (in  this  day^s  paper)  accuses  Mr. 
Cobbett 29  of  lending  his  active  pen  to  eastern  land  specu¬ 
lators,  who  wish  to  see  Illinois  settlements  in  ruin  and 
utterly  discarded.  Mr.  Dunn,  however,  of  this  city,  says 
the  west  is  the  only  country  for  small  capitals  and  large 
families,  every  branch  of  which  shall  there  fructify,  and 
in  due  time  have  each  a  farm  of  its  own.  Surplus  produce 
is  marketable  enough  in  the  shape  of  pigs,  horses,  beeves, 
and  whiskey.  The  western  people  can  better  afford  to  sell 
at  half,  than  the  eastern  can  [137]  at  whole  price,  because 
they  grow  double  the  quantity  per  acre,  and  there  is  a 
rapidly  encreasing  population.  The  western  market  is 
Xew  Orleans,  and  that  only.  It  is  1,500  miles  from 
Illinois ;  the  produce  is  sent  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississipi. 
A  supercargo,  or  the  owner  of  it.  must  go  with  it  to  sell  it, 

n  A  brief  biography  of  William  Cobbett  may  be  found  in  Hint’s  Letters, 
volume  Lx  of  our  series,  note  4. —  Ed. 


144 


Early  Western  Travels 


Vol.  ii 


or  the  farmer  is  perhaps  cheated  out  of  all,  or  at  best  sells 
at  an  incalculable  loss.  A  ship’s  cargo,  or  Yankee  specu¬ 
lation  to  that  city,  is  sometimes  composed  of  iron  coffins, 
or  nests  of  coffins  filled  with  shoes,  so  accommodating  both 
the  living  and  the  dead. 

Grasshoppers,  so  called,  but  in  fact  a  species  of  locust 
about  the  length  of  my  little  finger,  swarm  in  countless 
millions  all  over  this  and  the  contiguous  states,  where  oats 
and  other  crops  are  sometimes  cut  unripe  to  prevent  their 
being  devoured  by  these  almost  worse  than  Egyptian 
locusts.  They  hop,  jump,  and  fly  from  about  six  to  ten 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  devour  every  green  thing  above 
and  below.  A  hat  left  in  the  field  was  devoured  in  a  night. 
Their  wings  and  trunks  are  beautifully  colored.  On  their 
rising  from  the  surface  they  frequently  strike  my  nose.  In 
all  the  plain  round  this  city  they  leave  scarcely  a  blade  of 
grass.  It  now  looks  as  rusty  and  dusty  as  a  ploughed 
field,  the  grass  being  eaten  down  to  the  very  roots.  The 
intelligent  Mr.  Adams  says,  that  when  he  was  surveying 
the  territory  on  the  Michigan,  and  other  Lakes,  flies  were 
seen  falling  in  clouds,  and  lay  dead  and  [138]  stinking  on 
the  land  nearly  knee-deep.  What  fine  manure!  But 
how  offensive  to  the  Pharaohs  of  the  country!  By  the 
papers  to-day,  I  see  that  Miss  Courtney,  the  daughter  of 
an  emigrant  in  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  settlement,  was  killed  in  a 
few  hours  by  the  bite  of  a  huge  spider,  such  as  I  saw  in 
Carolina,  scattering  thousands  of  eggs  in  my  path.  It 
seized  the  unfortunate  lady  on  her  forehead ;  no  cure  could 
be  had  of  the  Indian,  or  other  doctors.  Her  head  swelled 
to  an  enormous  size,  and  after  her  death  was  livid  all  over. 
The  herb  called  the  Plantago  is  said  to  be  a  remedy,  if 
applied  in  time.  The  west  country  mail  and  travellers 
are  now  repeatedly  stopped  and  robbed  by  parties  of  men 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


H5 


at  work  on  the  Philadelphia  road,  who  will  not  suffer  any 
person  to  proceed  until  plundered. 

3rd. —  Lord  Selkirk,  while  here,  always  deemed  it  ex¬ 
pedient  and  politic  to  travel  in  the  disguise  of  a  poor  man, 
to  prevent  his  becoming  a  daily  prey  to  tavern  imposition 
and  wild  outlawed  thieves.  This  mode  is  wise  in  any  man 
moving  in  and  through  a  wild  country.  His  Lordship’s 
settlement,  so  very  near  his  heart,  is  said  to  be  in  ruins, 
and  a  constant  prey  to  the  Indians,  excited  against  it  by 
the  north-west  company,  although  he  honourably  paid  the 
barbarians  for  their  land.30  Murder,  and  acts  amounting 
to  civil  war,  have  been  committed  on  both  sides  and  by  all 
parties. 

Sunday ,  5 th. —  I  left  this  city  on  an  agricultural  tour 
into  the  states  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  I  [139]  was 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Dunn,  the  friendly  serjeant-at-arms 
to  Congress,  who  felt  kindly  anxious  that  I  should  see  and 
know  his  list  of  friends.  We  travelled  on  horseback,  rest¬ 
ing  the  first  night  at  Squire  Simpson’s.  We  visited  Mr. 
Webb,  who  26  years  since  came  here  a  London  mechanic, 
and  bought  500  acres  of  poor  land,  which  he  has  but  little 
improved,  getting  only  from  six  to  ten  bushels  of  wheat  per 
acre.  He  thinks  plaster  of  Paris,  without  manure,  of  no 
real  service  on  poor,  worn-out  land.  Plaster  is  found  to 
operate  on  land  by  attracting  dew.  More  dew  is  always 
seen  in  plants  and  grain  growing  on  plastered  fields.  The 
dew  palpably  shews  where  the  plaster  has  been  used,  and 
the  land  is  cooled  by  it.  Mr.  Webb,  the  father  of  a  family, 
feels  well  satisfied  that  America  is  the  country  for  a  poor 
and  industrious  man. 

Farming. —  A  gentleman  of  considerable  property  plas- 

30  For  Lord  Selkirk  and  the  Red  River  Settlement,  see  Franchfcre’s  Narra¬ 
tive,  volume  vi  of  our  series,  notes  195,  199. —  Ed. 


146 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


tered  and  clovered  three  years  successively,  without  either 
mowing  or  depasturing.  The  whole  produce  of  the  land 
was  suffered  to  grow  and  rot,  and  at  the  end  of  the  third 
year,  it  was  ploughed  and  sown  with  wheat,  and  yielded 
thirty-five  bushels  per  acre.  This  was  a  novelty  in  farm¬ 
ing,  and  too  expensive  an  experiment  for  farmers.  Droves 
of  cattle  are  bred  in  the  southern  and  western  back- 
settlements,  and  sold  to  the  graziers  on  the  Potowmac  at 
one  dollar  per  head,  and  in  a  year  after  to  the  butcher  at 
from  10  to  15  dollars,  who  in  his  turn  makes  30  dollars,  so 
[140]  gaining  100  per  cent  on  the  cost.  I  cannot  but 
doubt  the  correctness  of  this  statement,  although  it  seems 
to  come  from  good  authority.  It  appears  improbable  to 
an  Englishman,  who  never  sells  a  calf  at  a  week  old,  under 
4  dollars  or  5  dollars.  Webb  and  Simpson,  both  English¬ 
men,  think  that  10  bushels  of  wheat  an  acre,  gives  a  living 
profit,  and  feel  well  assured  that  estates  with,  or  near  a 
market,  are  infinitely  better  than  the  western  country, 
which  they  contend  is  without  a  market.  4 ‘We  saw,” 
say  they,  “two  men  who  had  returned,  preferring  100 
acres  of  poor  land,  like  ours,  to  500  in  the  west,  where  there 
was  no  market,  nor  money  to  be  had  or  made.  Even  in 
the  east,  where  land  is  far  off  a  market,  or  inconveniently 
situated,  it  is  not  worth  half  so  much  as  it  would  otherwise 
be.  The  produce  cannot  be  carried  to  market,  when 
most  wanted  in  the  winter. 

6th. —  I  reached  and  slept  at  Harper’s  Ferry,31  where 
is  Uncle  Sam's  grand  central  depot  of  arms  and  ammuni¬ 
tion.  I  visited  the  armoury,  which  is  a  magnificent 
establishment,  replete  with  all  that  is  necessary  for  the 
destruction  of  the  human  family.  Here  also  is  a  manu- 

31  For  the  early  history  of  Harper’s  Ferry,  see  A.  Michaux’s  Travels ,  volume 
iii  of  our  series,  note  69. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  yournal 


H  7 


factory  of  arms,  conducted  on  the  most  scientific  principles, 
and  abounding  with  almost  every  species  of  ingenious 
machinery,  worked  by  steam,  and  supplied  by  water  run¬ 
ning  from  the  mountains  near,  and  carried  to  the  top  of 
the  buildings,  which,  together  with  the  town  on  the  banks 
of  the  river,  stand  in  a  fortification  of  [141]  rocks.  The 
traveller  enters  Harper’s  Ferry  by  a  steep  declivity  of 
two  miles,  so  rugged,  that  I  expected  we  should  all  break 
our  necks.  The  southern  bank  opposite  to  the  town  is 
perpendicularly  higher  than  the  ball  of  St.  Paul’s  cathedral, 
and  on  it  are  growing  huge  forest  trees,  which  are  cut  and 
tumbled  down  this  awful  precipice,  and  floated  down  the 
Potowmac.  The  romantic  and  stupendous  scenes  of 
nature  are  here  unrivalled.  No  traveller  should  return 
from  America  without  seeing  Harper’s  Ferry,  which  is  very 
well  sketched  by  the  late  president  Jefferson  in  his  Notes 
on  Virginia.  I  ought  to  mention,  that  I  dined  this  day 
with  Mr.  Marlow,  a  kind-hearted  sociable  gentleman, 
living  out  of  society  between  two  huge  mountains,  the 
Chotocton  and  the  Blue  Mountain,  and  losing  the  sun 
daily  three  quarters  of  an  hour  sooner  than  other  places 
in  the  neighbourhood.  He  purchased  his  present  estate, 
all  of  fine  land,  save  the  mountain  land,  300  acres,  at  20 
dollars  an  acre,  about  three  years  since,  and  is  now  offered 
60  dollars  for  it,  but  it  is  falling  in  value.  It  is  all  in  a 
state  of  cultivation  and  enclosed,  and  is  the  third  purchase 
on  which  he  has  lived  awhile  and  improved  for  sale ;  having 
thus  gained  25,000,  or  30,000  dollars,  without  a  cent  to 
begin  with.  He  thinks  highly  of  Illinois  and  the  western 
states  generally,  but  considers  Missouri  to  be  the  best, 
and  to  be  preferred,  [142]  as  being  the  richest  soil,  and  a 
land  of  negroes. — “There,”  says  he,  “the  market  is  good 
and  certain,  and  produce  may  be  taken  down  the  Missis- 


148 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


sipi,  to  New  Orleans  and  the  eastern  parts,  as  cheaply 
as  I  can  get  mine  to  Washington,  Baltimore,  or  Philadel¬ 
phia,  for  I  have  to  pay  half  a  dollar  a  barrel  for  80  miles 
only,  and  the  farmers  of  the  west  can  send  it  2,000  miles 
for  six  dollars.”  Mr.  Marlow  gains  nothing  by  cultiva¬ 
tion  merely,  but  by  making  improvements,  and  by  the  en- 
creased  value  of  land,  one-third  of  which  he  always  keeps 
in  wood,  or  rather  uncleared,  and  deems  that  part  the 
most  valuable. 

7 th. —  I  visited  and  spent  the  night  with  Mr.  Worsley,  a 
first-rate  practical  farmer  and  grazier,  late  of  Lincolnshire. 
He  owns  a  fine  farm,  in  a  Maryland  valley,  of  350  acres, 
which  13  years  ago  he  bought  at  20  dollars  an  acre,  but 
which  is  now  worth  60  dollars.  It  has  averaged  yearly, 
exclusive  of  a  good  living,  a  net  gain  of  600  dollars  by  cul¬ 
tivation  only.  He  finds  40  miles  from  a  market  of  no 
importance,  as  the  carrying  is  done  when  men  and  horses 
have  nothing  else  to  do.  He  is  also  paid  for  the  carriage, 
and  brings  in  return  plaster,  for  which  he  must  otherwise 
have  gone  empty;  or  if  he  preferred  it,  he  might  sell  his 
grain  to  a  neighbouring  miller  at  a  city  price,  only  allowing 
the  miller  for  the  carriage  to  the  city:  —  “My  expenses,” 
says  [143]  he,  ‘  ‘on  an  acre  of  wheat,  amount  to  12  dollars, 
and  it  has  always  averaged  22  dollars,  or  23  dollars  at 
market,  so  netting  near  100  per  cent.  I  have  always  150 
acres  in  grain  and  corn,  100  in  clover,  and  100  in  wood, 
the  latter  of  which  is  worth,  to  sell,  150  dollars  an  acre,  but 
that  must  remain  as  indispensable  to  a  farm  without  any 
green  hedges.  I  consider  green  clover  crops  in  value 
equal  to  grain,  when  fattening  beasts  and  pigs  pays  well. 
This  dry  year,  the  four-years  old  beasts,  which  cost  in,  as 
stores,  35  dollars  a-head,  will  sell  out  only  for  the  same 
money;  a  sad  loss.  All  my  time,  keep,  and  labour  are 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


149 


wasted  on  them.”  I  saw  his  herd  of  swine,  100  in  number; 
some  fat,  others  only  half  fat,  all  fed  in  clover  only,  and 
generally  fat  enough  for  market  in  the  autumn,  but  never 
fit  for  his  own  use;  corn  being  necessary  to  make  them 
firm  and  fit  for  smoking  into  hams.  This  herd  seems  now 
just  fat  enough  for  London  porkers;  the  citizens  not  desir¬ 
ing  it  thoroughly  fat.  Viewed  and  examined  the  threshing 
floor,  where  50  bushels  a  day  of  wheat  are  trodden  out  by 
five  or  six  oxen,  and  a  horse  amongst  them,  and  three  or 
four  men  to  brush  them  up  and  shake  off  the  straw,  and 
keep  on  a  supply  of  fresh  grain.  The  men  drink,  and 
“muzzle  not  the  ox  which  treadeth  out  the  corn.” 

Both  man  and  beast  seem  to  know  and  do  their  [144] 
business  well.  Mr.  Worsley  keeps  five  male  negroes  all 
the  year  round,  and  in  harvest  five  extra  hands,  a  fortnight 
only.  Clover  sown  in  wheat  or  rye  in  March,  is  frequently 
mown  in  great  abundance  after  the  grain  is  off:  such  is 
the  richness  of  the  soil  and  climate,  that  two  tons  an  acre 
are  often  thus  gotten.  It  runs  up  high  as  the  waist  of  a 
man,  and  pigs  are  fattened  on  it  besides;  thus  are  two  crops, 
one  of  wheat,  and  the  other  of  clover,  both  gathered  from 
the  same  field  in  the  same  year.  Mr.  Worsley  says,  “I 
would  not  have  Dr.  Dawes’s  land  as  a  gift,  if  I  must  be 
confined  to  live  on  and  out  of  it.  Mr.  Simpson  has  saved 
but  little  money,  not  half  so  much  as  he  ought;  on  good 
land,  with  his  industry  and  skill,  he  must  have  been  worth 
ten  times  as  much  money  as  he  is.”  But  he  is  hospitable, 
and  keeps  open  house  to  all,  and  he  is  never  without 
visitors.  When  the  British  burned  the  city,  the  ladies  fled 
to  him. 

Mr.  Worsley  began  with  100/. —  borrowed  900/.,  had 
some  with  his  wife,  and  is  now  worth  30,000  dollars.  He 
was  always  a  working,  economical  man,  spending  nothing, 


1 5° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


selling  every  thing,  and  turning  all  to  some  good  account. 
Dr.  Franklin’s  theory  is  Worsley’s  practice: 

“Get  what  you  can,  and  what  you  get  hold; 

That  is  the  stone  which  turns  lead  into  gold.” 


[145]  Cost  of  one  acre  of  Cropping  on  Mr.  W or sley's 

good  farm:  — 

Dollars.  Cents. 


Rent . 2 

Taxes . o  9 

Seed  Wheat . 1  50 

Ploughing  by  hire . 3 

Reaping  or  cradling . 2 

Carting  and  threshing . 2  50 

Carting  to  mill  near  home . 1 

ij  bushel  of  plaster,  at  60  cents  ....  1 


13  9 

The  average  price  and  quantity  18  bushels  at  1  dollar 
25  cents. 

Dollars.  Cents. 

22  50 

13  9 


4i 


Net  profit  on  one  acre  of  wheat  which  is  raised  without 
a  year’s  naked  fallow. 

Got  500  dollars  by  pigs  last  year,  and  sometimes  more. 

Proved  a  net  gain  of  130/.  a-year,  and  a  good  living  for 
family,  during  13  years. 

The  first  cost  of  the  farm,  360  acres,  and  stocking  9,300 
dollars. 

Present  stock  and  cash  6,000. 

3,000  capital  for  seven  years.  1  ,  , 

J  S  employed. 

3,000  ditto  for  six  years.  j 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


ISI 


[146]  8th. —  I  moved  on  to  the  seat  and  pleasant  farm¬ 
house  of - Johnson,  Esq.  a  young  gentleman  married 

to  a  delicate  young  lady  of  taste  and  amiable  manners. 
Mr.  Johnson  lives  in  capital  style  in  a  house  of  stone,  the 
labour  only  of  which  cost  3,000  dollars,  on  a  large  estate 
near  the  Sugar-loaf  mountain.  It  was  left  him  by  his 
father,  and  contains  mines  of  iron  and  a  foundry,  very 
profitable.  “I  travelled,”  said  he,  “through  the  western 
country  by  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Tenessee,  seven  years 
since,  but  saw  nothing  to  induce  me  to  leave  the  eastern 
states.  It  is  there  impossible  to  turn  produce  into  cash 
when  wanted:  no  market  but  distant  Orleans.  Produce 
is  surrendered  to  enterprizing  men,  as  they  are  called,  on 
the  rivers,  but  who  frequently  prove  to  be  thieves;  for  if 
the  boat  is  stove  in,  or  markets  are  bad  or  dull,  there  are 
no  returns;  you  hear  no  more  of  either  produce  or  the 
boat-men.  Companies  and  steam-boats’  folks  are  safer 
to  entrust  it  with.  To  go  yourself  to  market  is  impossible, 
for  while  selling  one  crop,  you  would  lose  the  time  for  rais¬ 
ing  another.  This  impediment  to  the  success  of  capitalists 
in  the  west,  is  likely  long  to  continue,  or  to  remove  only 
slowly.  The  west  is  only  fit  at  present  for  a  father  who 
has  many  sons  whom  he  wishes  to  settle  on  estates  of  their 
own,  and  who  will  be  able  to  live  there,  but  not  in  eastern 
comfort  and  respectability.  I  know  many  men  of  capital 
tempted  to  sell  out  in  the  east  and  [147]  purchase  largely 
and  settle  down  in  the  west,  but  who  continued  there  only 
a  short  time,  being  right  glad  to  sell  out  with  loss  and  re¬ 
purchase  their  old  eastern  estates,  or  others  at  a  consider¬ 
able  advance.” 

Mr.  Johnson  thinks  these  are  good  arguments  in  favour 
of  the  east,  with  which  he  is  satisfied,  and  that  satisfaction 
he  gained  by  seeing  the  west.  Mr.  Johnson,  now  only  32, 


l52 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


was  then  gay  and  young,  and  the  west  has  been  ever  since 
improving;  several  farmers  having  made  fortunes  trebling 
and  quadrupling  their  first  capitals  by  purchasing. 

“West  country  hospitality,”  says  Mr.  Johnson,  “is 
most  abundant,  and  is  well  exemplified  in  the  conduct  of 
many  of  the  most  respectable  settlers,  towards  a  stranger 
who  was  waylaid  and  robbed  of  3,000  dollars.  On  mak¬ 
ing  it  known,  colonels,  majors,  captains,  and  lieutenants, 
all  as  one  man,  instantly  armed  without  fee  or  reward, 
and  scouring  the  country  round  for  many  miles,  overtook 
and  seized  the  robber,  and  recovered  all  the  cash  for  the 
overjoyed  stranger.” 

I  noticed  to-day,  that  at  lone  houses  a  little  out  of  society, 
the  children  all  rushed  to  the  doors  to  gaze  upon  us,  and 
with  a  fixed,  wild,  staring  eye,  seemed  to  say:  We  have 
never  seen  such  strangers  before  in  this  world. 

9 th. —  Being  now  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  excellency 
the  president’s  country  seat,32  or  farm-house,  the  patri¬ 
mony  of  his  family,  I  find  that  his  [148]  neighbours  are 
rejoicing  because  his  excellency,  on  coming  here  last  week, 
was  arrested  three  times  in  one  week  by  neighbours  whom 
he  ought  to  have  paid  long  ago;  the  debts  being  money 
borrowed  on  his  estates.  He  has  long  been  under 
private  pecuniary  embarrassments,  and  offered  all  his 
estates  for  sale  in  order  to  discharge  the  demands  of  his 
creditors. 

I  reached  the  elegant  farm  mansion  and  table  of  Colo¬ 
nel  Thomas,  to  dine.  Here  I  found  many  interesting 
sons  and  daughters,  who,  together  with  their  sire  and 
mother,  seemed  full  of  good-will  and  generous  hospitality 
to  me,  a  stranger.  The  colonel  has  two  farms,  one  of  600, 
and  the  other  of  300  acres;  bought  30  years  since  at 


32  “Oak  Hill,”  West  Walden  County,  Virginia. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


*53 


two  guineas  an  acre,  all  fine  land,  which  averages  from 
20  to  25  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre:  one  dollar  a  bushel  is 
a  fair  price  if  mechanics  were  reasonable  in  their  charges. 
Some  of  them  soon  get  fortunes: — “On  my  farm  of  300 
acres,”  says  he,  “I  give  to  my  steward  one  sixth  of  the 
produce  raised,  which  to  him  is  from  500  to  600  dollars 
annually,  besides  land  for  hemp  and  flax,  a  cow,  and  all 
the  poultry  he  likes  to  raise.  I  think  farming  a  slow  way 
of  getting  money,  except  where  the  family  are  all  work¬ 
ers,  and  live  economically  on  bacon,  potatoes,  and  sour 
skim  milk,  as  do  many  farmers  of  Dutch  extraction.  But 
the  children  so  raised,  when  they  get  the  property  into 
their  own  hands,  generally  spend  it  faster  than  [149]  it 
was  gotten.  I  feel  myself  but  little  richer  by  the  boasted 
increased  value  of  land  while  I  keep  it.  It  maintained 
me  at  first,  it  only  does  so  now:  housekeeping  expenses 
for  a  genteel  family  have  increased  in  proportion,  and, 
indeed,  more  than  either  land  or  produce.  I  however 
prefer  farming,  because  it  is  a  certain  independence.  I 
think  highly  of  plaster  of  Paris  and  management,  and 
plough  my  land  more  than  once  for  wheat.” 

The  colonel  has  relatives  in  Illinois  doing  well,  and 
well  pleased,  and  who  took  good  capitals,  and  workmen, 
and  mechanics,  and  implements  for  building  first-rate 
houses.  He  thinks  the  west  the  best  country;  the  land 
there  increases  so  fast  in  value.  “My  store-bill,”  says 
he,  “is  here  6,000  dollars  a  year.” 

I  bade  farewell  to  the  colonel,  who  desired  that  I  would 
visit  his  western  friends,  and  report  of  them,  and  re-visit 
him  on  my  return. 

10 th. —  Supped  and  slept  at  New  Town  33  with  Mr. 

33  This  is  Stephensburg;  for  its  early  history,  see  A.  Michaux’s  Travels, 
volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  66. —  Ed. 


1 54- 


Ear /y  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


M’Gill,  a  venerable  and  highly  respectable  merchant, 
who  knows  that  farmers  have  made  large  fortunes  quickly, 
where  disposed  to  economy  and  industry.  Still,  many  of 
the  Virginians  have  spent  all  as  fast  as  it  came,  indulging 
in  all  manner  of  luxury  and  excess;  giving  their  children 
most  expensive  educations,  which  never  turned  to  any 
account,  as  they  afterwards  all  sat  down  on  small  plan¬ 
tations.  Colonel  Thomas  (says  he)  has  saved  much  and 
spent  liberally  too,  although  he  talks  [150]  to  you  of 
money  being  made  slowly  by  farming.  Bacon,  potatoe, 
and  bonny  claber  farmers  (Germans)  have  become  inva¬ 
riably  rich  by  cultivating.  On  farms  of  300  acres  each, 
100  is  in  wood,  100  in  corn  and  rye,  for  the  support  of 
the  farm  and  establishment,  and  100  is  in  wheat,  clear 
gain,  which  might  be  put  into  the  pocket  every  year. 
Twenty- three  thousand  dollars  capital  is  necessary  for 
every  farm  of  300  acres  in  this  fruitful  valley,  and  about 
10  per  cent,  profit  on  such  capital  is  realized  where  good 
management  exists.  He  thinks  highly  of  the  west,  and 
feels  anxious  for  the  success  of  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  settle¬ 
ment.  He  must  enrich  himself,  family,  and  followers 
by  the  increasing  value  of  land,  and  that  without  culti¬ 
vating  an  acre,  if  he  does  but  retain  the  title-deeds  in  his 
own  hands.  He  feels  sure  that  land  on  the  Miami  of  the 
lakes  is  fine  and  desirable  for  settlers,  especially  when  the 
canal  from  New  York  thence  shall  be  finished,  and  deems 
settlements  on  the  Missouri  flourishing  and  inviting. 
Mr.  M’Gill  is  of  Scotch  extraction,  and  is  a  kind-hearted, 
well-informed  man. 

11  th. —  I  dined,  supped,  and  slept  with  Mr.  T.  Hillery, 
a  water-miller  and  planter  of  the  most  complete  kind, 
occupying  two  large  plantations,  one  rich,  and  the  other 
poor,  worn-out  land.  On  the  former  he  gets  from  35 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  Journal 


*55 


to  40  bushels  of  wheat  an  acre;  on  the  latter  poor  land 
from  two  to  five  bushels:  he  averages  25.  He  is  satisfied 
with  five  bushels  for  the  first  few  years.  The  poor  land 
he  [151]  bought  at  six  dollars  an  acre,  but  is  sure  of  greatly 
increasing  its  value,  although  he  shall  gain  nothing  but 
rather  lose  by  cultivation,  for  on  500  acres  he  could  not 
support  his  family.  Mr.  Hillery  is  a  man  of  large  capital, 
enterprizing  habits,  and  great  industry;  being  always  in 
the  mill  or  the  field,  at  work  from  sun-rise  to  sun-set.  He 
is  one  of  a  large  family  of  sons,  who  are  all  settled  in  a 
similar  way:  their  father,  in  great  agricultural  riches  and 
eminence,  is  still  living.  A  poor  man,  (he  says,)  must 
never  buy  poor  land;  he  must  go  to  the  west;  but  he  is 
convinced  that  the  east  is  the  best  for  the  present  em¬ 
ployment  of  capital,  which  cannot  be  invested  with  ad¬ 
vantage  in  the  west,  unless  the  farmer  is  a  trader  also. 
Then  he  may  succeed,  but  not  by  cultivating  alone;  there 
being  no  market  there  except  New  Orleans,  where,  if 
produce  can  be  sold,  it  is  found  not  to  be  worth  raising. 
He  has  seen  several  who  have  returned,  preferring  the 
eastern  states:  he  never  felt  any  desire  to  emigrate,  but 
means  to  visit  the  west  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  and 
judging,  and  buying  estates  for  each  of  his  children,  in 
such  parts  as  are  likely  to  become  the  most  inviting  to, 
and  lie  in  the  channel  of  emigration.  The  poor  man,  if 
any  body,  must  be  the  pioneer  in  the  western  regions. 
He  showed  me  what  he  called  his  fine  large  ears  of  wheat, 
which  are  of  the  white  and  red  bearded  species,  not  half 
the  length  of  the  English,  nor  so  fine  and  large  in  the 
kernel  and  [152]  quality.  Mr.  Hillery  thinks  well  of 
plaster,  but  by  experience  proves  that  it  will  not  act  bene¬ 
ficially  on  poor,  worn-out  land  without  manure.  Its 
good  effects  are  evident  enough  in  suitable  land,  so  as  to 


1 56 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


discover  to  an  inch  where  it  is  sown.  On  clover  the 
cattle  will  eat  the  pasture  bare  where  plaster  has  been 
sown;  but  if  a  spot  has  been  missed,  they  leave  that  un¬ 
tasted,  and  never  touch  it.  It  is  seen  to  produce  abun¬ 
dant  dew,  and  is  thought  to  contain  alum  and  to  stiffen 
the  soil,  so  as  in  time  to  destroy  all  vegetative  power.  It 
is  suitable  only  for  light,  warm  soil.  He  thinks  that  ten 
per  cent  on  capital  or  four  per  cent  in  addition  to  common 
interest  is  not  generally  made  by  cultivation,  even  on 
good  land  with  good  management;  but  if  liberal  house¬ 
keeping  is  taken  into  account  on  such  improved  soils, 
which  it  is  not  customary  to  do,  that  a  profit  of  15  per  cent 
has  been,  is,  or  may  be  obtained.  Wheat  is  now  only  36 
cents  or  less  than  eighteen  pence  sterling  a  bushel,  and 
unsaleable  at  that  or  any  other  price  at  Buffalo  state,  New 
York.  The  distance  from  market  makes  it  so. 

Milling  and  Millers. —  Mr.  Hillery,  who  owns  a  most 
complete  grist  and  saw-mill,  worked  by  water,  buys  no 
wheat,  but  has  more  of  his  own  and  of  his  neighbours’, 
than  he  can  grind. —  He  takes  the  tenth  for  toll.  He 
finds  it  almost  impossible  to  get  a  careful,  faithful  miller 
at  500  dollars,  or  112/.  a  year! 

[J  53]  Sunday ,  12 th. —  Last  evening  I  re-appeared  in  the 
Federal  City,  after  spending  a  week  in  that  beautiful 
fruitful  vale,  40  miles  long,  and  seven  broad,  partly  in 
Maryland  and  partly  in  Virginia,  and  the  only  fertile 
spot,  north  of  Carolina,  which  I  have  yet  seen.  Here  I 
found  much  information,  real  hospitality,  honesty,  great 
good  will,  genuine  urbanity,  and  friendship,  accompanied 
by  wealth  and  independence.  I  was  pressed  to  return 
and  revisit  these  squires  and  farmers  on  some  future 
day,  and  spend  weeks  with  them.  For  this  kindness  I 
am  indebted  to  my  friend  Mr.  Dunn,  to  whom  it  would 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


1 57 


give  me  pleasure,  if  this  page  should  bear  my  grateful 
remembrances. 

I  saw  a  fine  apple-tree,  full  of  fruit,  evidently  planted, 
as  are  many  other  choice  trees,  by  the  hand  of  nature. 

14 th. —  “Aristocrats,”  says  my  friend  Mr.  Elliott,  “are 
breeding  fast  in  America:  no  men  in  the  world  are  more 
aristocratical  than  the  heads  of  departments;  they  spurn, 
and  cannot  even  speak  to,  common  men,  unless  it  be  to 
purchase  popularity  cheaply.  Four  ranks  variegate  this 
demoralizing  country,  (i.  e.)  the  heads  of  departments, 
clerks  in  office,  merchants  and  traders,  and  the  lower 
orders.  The  third  named  are  considered  much  below  the 
first,  yet  above  the  second,  and  are  therefore  treated  with 
more  respect  than  the  clerks  under  government,  who  are 
mere  slaves,  dependent  and  removable  at  pleasure  without 
explanation.  [154]  There  are  already  nobility  in  exist¬ 
ence  in  the  Cincinnati  society  and  military  schools.” 

“Our  great  orator,  Randolph,  is  an  orator  of  nature,” 
says  Mr.  Jones,  “and  half  an  Indian.  He  was  once 
sneered  at  in  the  house  on  account  of  his  pedigree.  He 
smartly  replied,  and  boasted  of  being  descended,  by  his 
mother’s  side,  from  an  Indian  princess  and  a  Mr.  Smith, 
an  English  gentleman,  an  early  settler  in  Virginia,  who 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  and  about  to  be  offered 
up  a  sacrifice  to  their  gods;  but  at  the  moment  when  the 
fatal  tomahawk  was  raised  to  destroy  him,  this  princess 
stepped  forward  and  prevented  the  dreadful  blow.  He 
immediately  married  his  preserver.”  34 

34  John  Randolph  was  seventh  in  descent  from  Pocahontas,  daughter  of  the 
chieftain  Powhatan,  and  her  white  husband,  John  Rolfe.  It  is  now  generally 
conceded  that  the  Pocahontas  story  was  invented  by  Smith.  See  Poole  “The 
Pocahontas  Story,”  in  the  Dial,  April,  1885.  For  a  general  impeachment  of 
John  Smith’s  veracity,  see  Brown,  The  First  Republic  in  America  (Boston 
1898). —  Ed. 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


158 


15 th. —  In  the  Michigan  territory,  on  the  borders  of 
the  lakes,  in  July  last,  flies,  thick  as  swarms  of  bees  on 
a  bough,  covered  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  for  six  days 
darkened  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  making  the  air  noi¬ 
some  and  pestilential.  The  sides  and  ends  of  houses  on 
which  the  sun  shone  not,  were  blackened  by  them.  They 
seemed  to  lose  their  skin  daily  and  die  by  millions  every 
minute:  cattle,  swine,  and  the  Indians,  feed  on  them  lux¬ 
uriously.  Their  length  is  three  inches,  with  the  feelers 
which  protrude  from  both  head  and  tail.  Corn  fields 
and  large  boughs  of  trees  were  broken  down  by  their 
weight.  Mr.  Adams,  two  years  before,  saw  the  same 
phenomenon.  They  are  nondescripts  in  natural  history, 
but  [155]  called  by  the  French  settlers  of  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  Mosquito  Hawks,  as  they  feed  upon  mosquitoes 
and  drive  them  away. 

Intending  on  the  morrow  to  leave  this  city,  on  a  tour 
through  some  of  the  northern  states  bordering  on  the 
lakes,  and  from  thence  by  the  falls  of  the  Niagara  to  the 
western  country,  I  advertised  in  the  National  Intelligencer 
for  a  travelling  companion,  but  not  finding  any  offers 
agreeable  to  me,  I  determined  on  starting  unaccompanied. 
Two  or  three  kind  introductory  letters  were  put  into  my 
hands  by  Messrs.  Adams,  Elliott,  and  Dunn,  to  his  Ex¬ 
cellency  Jonathan  Jennings,  governor  of  the  state  of  Indi¬ 
ana,35  Major  Hooper  of  Hamilton,  N.  Y.,  and  Jacob 
Lowndes,  Esq.,  the  prison  philanthropist,  the  Howard 
of  America. 

16th. —  At  six,  a.  m.,  I  started  for  Philadelphia  and 
New  York;  and  in  the  Delaware  river,  passed  a  packet- 
ship  from  London,  brimful  of  emigrants. 


35  Jonathan  Jennings  (1784-1834),  of  New  Jersey  origin,  was  the  first  state 
governor  of  Indiana  (1816-1822),  and  an  Indiana  congressman  in  the  i7th-2ist 
congresses. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


1 59 


1 8th. —  I  passed  king  Joseph  Bonaparte’s  palace  on  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  on  the  Jersey  side,36  and  many 
other  delightful  farms,  houses,  villas,  and  villages,  with 
fruitful  and  extensive  salt  and  fresh  marshes,  and  meadows 
full  of  hay-stacks,  just  such  as  are  seen  in  Lincolnshire 
and  Norfolk,  having  the  sea  ready  to  burst  in  and  over 
them,  and  inclosed  by  water  ditches,  as  in  the  fens  of 
England.  At  noon  I  landed  for  the  first  time  at  the  beau¬ 
tiful  and  justly  famed  city  of  New  York. 

Elegant  hackney  coaches  were  in  attendance  on  [156] 
the  wharfs,  and  took  us  to  the  Washington  Hall,  the  sec¬ 
ond  best  hotel  in  this  city,  where  we  dined  at  a  long  public 
table,  groaning  under  the  weight  of  luxuries.  The  com¬ 
pany  seemed  of  the  first  and  best  grade,  principally 
boarders  and  visitors  from  the  southern  states.  All  seemed 
hungry  and  thirsty,  and  as  if  living  only  to  eat  and  drink. 

After  dinner  I  took  a  hasty  walk  about  the  city,  which 
seemed  all  bustle  and  confusion.  It  was  like  Michaelmas 
or  Lady-day  in  England;  at  every  door,  in  almost  every 
street,  carts  and  waggons  were  seen  lading  or  laden,  re¬ 
moving  furniture,  merchandize,  and  men  from  the  city  to 
the  country.  Stores  and  offices,  and  firms  were  closed, 
or  only  doing  business  as  if  by  stealth.  But  why  all  this  ? 
The  yellow  fever  was  raging  and  turning  citizens  out  of 
doors  into  the  grave;  and  on  discovering  that  one  gentle¬ 
man  lay  sick  of  it  at  our  Hall,  we  determined  on  quitting 
the  city  and  repairing  to  Philadelphia  next  morning. 

I  saw  the  once  celebrated  Aaron  Burr,  a  little  lean,  pale, 
withered,  shabby  looking,  decayed,  grey-headed  old 
gentleman,  whose  name  is  too  well  known  in  transatlantic 
history  to  need  my  notice.  I  saw  also  in  court,  but  very 

86  After  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  Joseph  Bonaparte  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  and  lived  with  his  two  daughters  at  Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  until  his 
return,  on  the  accession  of  Louis  Philippe  in  1830.  See  volume  xii  of  our  series, 
Part  II  of  Faux’s  Journal ,  p.  413  (original  pagination). —  Ed. 


i6o 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


indistinctly,  Mr.  Emmett,  the  distinguished  lawyer,  and 
long-persecuted  Irish  refugee,  the  companion  of  Sampson, 
whose  life  and  sorrows  have  been  recently  written  in  this 
city.37  All  our  plans  were  disconcerted  by  this  dreadful 
fever,  and  we  therefore  left  this  at  [157]  six  in  the  morning 
after  a  stay  of  only  nineteen  hours  in  this  great  mart  for  all 
America. 

20 th. —  This  day,  I  dined  at  Judd’s  hotel,  Philadelphia. 
I  talked  long  with  friend  Edward  Wilson,  a  rich  English 
quaker  and  one  of  the  best  men  I  have  seen  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  He  was  a  refugee  from  Northamptonshire,  and 
by  trading  in  the  importation  of  British  goods,  has  become 
opulent.  I  was  twice  invited  to  dine  with  him,  but  could 
not. 

4  ‘Though  there  is  some  distress  here,”  says  he,  ‘  ‘there 
is  room  for  all,  masters  and  labourers,  in  agriculture;  but 
I  cannot  advise  people,  who  are  comfortable  in  England, 
to  come  here,  unless  they  can  appreciate  the  advantages 
arising  to  their  children  and  posterity  generally.  Fathers 
and  mothers  should  expect  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
their  children.  The  rage  for  speculation  has  ruined  many, 
farmers  not  excepted,  who  purchased  lands  now  not  worth 
half  the  cost.  The  banks  are  the  sources  of  that  ruin ;  but 
as  they  are  nuisances  fast  removing,  trade,  though  as  bad, 
or  worse  than  in  England,  will  soon  become  better.  Those 
farmers  and  merchants  who  have  been  prudent,  are 

37  Burr  returned  from  Europe  in  1812,  where  he  had  spent  four  years  in 
poverty,  and  in  vain  attempted  to  practice  law  in  New  York  and  recover  his 
former  standing.  A  vivid  description  of  Burr  in  1823  is  given  in  Henry 
Childs  Marwin,  Aaron  Burr,  p.  142. 

Thomas  Addis  Emmett  (1764-1827),  as  leader  of  the  “United  Irishmen,” 
was  arrested  in  1798.  After  three  years’  imprisonment  he  was  released,  and 
emigrated  to  New  York,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  with  success,  and 
as  an  orator  ranked  high.  In  1812  he  was  chosen  attorney-general  of  New 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


16 1 


either  rich  or  well  to  do.  There  are  not  above  four  houses 
in  Philadelphia  able  to  import  goods  into  it.  I  am  declin¬ 
ing  the  business  myself,  it  being  far  better  to  do  no  business 
than  to  do  it  unsafely.  As  to  slave  states,  if  I  were  blind, 
I  could  tell  when  I  was  entering  any  of  them.  I  can  smell 
them;  the  moral  air  is  putrid.  [158]  Management  and 
every  thing  else  tells  a  slave  state.  The  beautiful  small 
rich  favourite  farms  with  complete  houses  and  offices  on 
them,  all  of  stone,  with  the  mail  road  and  river  Delaware 
in  front,  sold  this  summer  at  85  dollars  an  acre,  though 
worth  100  dollars.  They  average  25  bushels  of  wheat  per 
acre,  and  sometimes  produce  40  bushels.  Your  Mr. 
Long  from  Lincolnshire,  and  others,  have  bought  excel¬ 
lent  lands  in  Pennsylvania  within  40  miles  of  this  city,  and 
nearer  other  markets,  with  all  improvements,  cleared  and 
inclosed,  having  complete  house  and  buildings,  at  only 
15  and  18  dollars  an  acre,  the  cost  only  of  the  buildings, 
or  perhaps  only  of  the  fence,  but  which  land  three  years 
ago  sold  at  60  dollars  an  acre.  One  dollar  a  bushel  here 
is  a  living  profit,  and  better  than  two  in  England.  Mr. 
Long,  though  of  an  unsettled  turn,  has  bought  his  land 
well  and  must  do  well.  He  has  waited  long,  though  not 
in  vain.  There  is  much  fine  land  in  and  all  over  the  east¬ 
ern  states,  particularly  in  this  state,  and  in  New  York,  to 
be  bought  well  (as  much  must  be  sold  by  the  sheriff)  and 
with  a  fine  market  for  every  kind  of  produce,  and  not  in 
a  slave  state.  The  western-country  labourers  return  here, 
unable  to  get  paid  in  any  way  for  their  work,  it  being  im¬ 
possible  to  sell,  any  where  or  at  any  price,  the  wheat 
which  they  receive  in  lieu  of  cash.  One  poor  fellow,  after 
threshing  a  month,  returned  quite  unable  to  sell  his  share 
or  bring  it  away;  and  if  the  farmer  has  20  [159]  miles  to 
carry  it  to  the  river,  it  is  not  worth  his  while  to  grow  it,  for 


162 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


no  money  can  be  had  for  it,  but  goods  only,  which  he  must 
receive  at  the  vendor’s  own  price,  and  in  like  manner  his 
produce.  All  is  done  by  barter.  I  know  several  whom 
I  advised  not  to  go  westward,  now  repenting  and  unable 
to  raise  ten  dollars.  They  have  lost  much  by  lending,  and 
by  the  reduction  of  their  lands,  which  are  now,  though 
much  improved,  unsaleable,  or  if  saleable,  at  immense 
loss.  My  partner’s  father  (an  Englishman)  had  17,000 
dollars,  when  a  few  years  since  he  went  into  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  but  now  is  he  indeed  a  repenting  man,  unable  to 
raise  or  borrow  ten  dollars  on  or  from  his  estate.” 

2 2nd. — “Young  men  in  trade,”  says  Mr.  Wardour, 
“and  clerks  from  England,  had  better  stay  at  home,  or 
if  here,  return  home  immediately.”  Fifty  passengers  re¬ 
turned  last  week  from  this  city  to  England  and  Ireland. 
He  conceives  that  no  accurate  calculations  have  yet  been 
made  to  prove  what  are  the  profits  in  agriculture.  He 
knows  that  the  rent  of  his  purchase  does  not  net  above 
three  per  cent,  on  the  capital  employed,  though  situated 
so  near  to  Philadelphia  and  with  a  mansion  upon  it.  Both 
Wardour  and  Wilson  have  great  numbers  of  emigrants 
passing  through  their  hands,  and  establish  many  well. 
They  send  labourers  to  masters,  and  advise  them  to  begin 
a  job  without  a  bargain;  for,  if  good  for  any  thing  and  [160] 
steady,  they  are  sure  to  be  remunerated  in  the  east,  and 
treated  with  more  respect  and  equality  than  people  coming 
from  old  countries  can  form  an  idea  of.  It  is  true  that 
many  men  labour  during  the  winter  for  their  food,  lodging, 
washing,  &c. 

I  met  a  Pennsylvanian  farmer  in  the  steam-boat,  who 
states  that  plenty  of  labourers  were  to  be  had,  all  the  har¬ 
vest,  at  half  a  dollar  per  day  and  board.  There  were 
many  more  than  could  be  employed.  Much  distress  is 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  "Journal 


1 63 


therefore  expected  in  the  coming  winter  through  excess  of 
labourers.  Messieurs  Price,  Krugg,  Wardour,  and  Wilson, 
all  distinct  firms  and  personages,  agree  in  opinion  and 
evidence  that  the  eastern  states  are  the  best  for  the  em¬ 
ployment  of  capital;  yet  they  partially  admit  that  New 
Orleans  will  or  may  be  a  market,  a  grand  emporium  for 
the  western  wilderness.  Ships  go  there  to  buy  produce; 
but,  Mr.  Wardour  says,  why  should  men  of  capital  go  to 
settle  there,  while  fine  cleared  and  improved  land  in  the 
east,  with  every  possible  advantage  can  be  bought  any 
where,  for  the  money  it  costs  in  fencing  and  enclosing. 
Western  land  must  be  enclosed  and  cleared,  and  at  a  much 
greater  expense  than  the  eastern,  and  then  after  all  be 
without  a  market  for  surplus  produce,  or  purchasers  for 
the  land  and  its  improvements.  Lands,  even  in  the  old 
and  thickly  settled  state  of  Kentucky,  are  so  depressed  in 
price  and  so  unsaleable,  that  a  dollar  cannot  be  raised 
upon  or  from  them.  Living  is  uncommonly  cheap;  [161] 
fowls  9 s.  sterling  per  dozen,  and  every  thing  in  proportion. 
Housekeeping  is  cheaper  by  100  per  cent.,  and  30  per  cent, 
for  a  genteel  family,  than  at  Philadelphia.  Mr.  R.  Flower, 
in  a  recent  letter,  says  that  female  servants  and  others  are 
much  wanted,  as  well  as  mechanics  of  all  sorts.  The 
females  of  every  description  have  nearly  all  got  married  or 
engaged. 

24 th. —  I  returned  to  Washington  city  this  day,  after  a 
journey  of  about  700  miles,  during  which  I  saw  many 
situations  inviting  to  emigrants  both  in  Pennsylvania  and 
in  other  states  on  the  banks  of  rivers ;  but  little  or  no  good 
land  elsewhere. 

I  feel  some  regret  on  quitting  the  purer  air,  the  fairer 
scenes  and  better  tables  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York, 
where,  at  almost  every  meal,  rich  and  precious  fruits  gar- 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


i  64 


nished  the  ever  tempting  table,  and  sharpened  the  failing 
appetite.  At  Philadelphia  I  thought  the  roasted  beef  equal 
to  that  of  Old  England,  and  every  thing  at  Judd’s  good 
hotel,  fair,  sweet,  and  cleanly,  just  what  an  Englishman 
loves,  and  deems  indispensable  to  his  comfort. 

I  am  forcibly  struck  every  where  with  the  prominent 
boldness  and  forwardness  of  American  children,  who  seem 
unabashed,  manly,  and  conversable,  because  they  are 
always,  from  early  life,  introduced  to  all  strangers  at  home 
or  abroad.  They  fear  nothing,  care  for  nothing,  and  never 
blush,  [162]  but  think  themselves  to  be  all-knowing  men 
and  women, never  to  be  slighted  or  affronted  with  impunity. 

Sunday ,  October  yd. —  By  mutual  agreement,  a  band 
of  philosophers,  last  evening,  met  to  smoke  me  off  to  the 
western  wilderness;  and  smoke  we  did  till  one  o’clock  this 
morning,  when  they  escorted  me  to,  and  saw  me  safely 
packed  in  Uncle  Sam’s  western  mail,  and  bade  me  a  hearty 
farewell  for  three  months.  Thus,  with  some  regret,  left 
I  city,  summer,  and  civilization  behind  me,  as  much  from 
a  wish  to  be  faithful  to  my  promise,  as  to  see,  hear,  and 
know.  My  eyes  and  ears,  indeed,  begin  to  feel  something 
akin  to  satiety;  but  I  had  engaged,  and  solemnly  vowed, 
to  the  faithful  patriarch,  that  I  would  travel  3,000  miles 
to  visit  his  well-beloved  son  in  Indiana,  if  he,  the  father, 
would  continue  my  steward  at  White  Hall  during  my  ab¬ 
sence.  Three  thousand  miles  is  nothing  of  a  journey  here; 
and  now  seated  and  well  shaken  together  with  one  of 
Uncle  Sam’s  high  sheriffs,  a  gentlemanly  colonel,  and  other 
passengers,  all  very  sociable,  I  move  along  gaily.  At  noon, 
we  passed  through  Frederick-town,38  a  very  long  promis¬ 
ing  place,  quite  English  in  its  appearance,  and  well  situated 

38  For  the  early  history  of  Fredericktown,  see  A.  Michaux’s  Travels ,  volume 
iii  of  our  series,  note  70. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


i65 


in  a  fine  rich  valley,  which  yields  the  finest  Indian  corn  yet 
seen,  and  is  the  best  wheat  land  in  America,  being  a  part 
of  or  bordering  on,  the  extensive  fertile  valley  before  men¬ 
tioned,  which  stretches  through  Virginia,  [163]  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  shows  the  best  farms  and  farmers 
in  the  land.  My  agreeable  companion,  the  colonel,  says 
that  no  land  is  here  selling  by  forced  sales,  nor  any  under 
100  dollars  an  acre,  and  that  few  or  no  persons  within 
his  knowledge  complain  of  hard  times,  but  those  whose 
pride  or  imprudent  speculations  have  involved  them.  We 
supped  and  slept  at  Hager’ s-town,  a  market  town,  with 
three  Dutch  gothic  churches,  adorned  with  tall  spires,  and 
a  good  court  house.  This  town  is  highly  delightful,  and 
almost  surrounded  by  small  mountains;  the  scenery  is 
beautiful,  and  both  in  and  around  an  air  of  grandeur  pre¬ 
vails;  except,  indeed,  at  our  tavern,  where,  though  it  is 
Sunday,  all  is  smoke  and  fire,  and  Bacchus  is  the  god. 

4 th. —  Early  this  morning  we  commenced  a  perilous 
journey,  ascending  and  descending  the  Allegany  mountains 
all  day.  All  here  is  wild,  awfully  precipitous,  and  darkly 
umbrageous,  high  as  the  heavens,  or  low  as  perdition.  I 
almost  resolved  on  not  returning  this  way  by  mail,  which 
carries  and  keeps  one  in  constant  alarm,  unless  the  traveller 
has  nerves  of  iron  or  brass.  Such,  however,  is  the  expert¬ 
ness  of  the  drivers  here,  that  there  is  no  ground  for  real 

apprehension.  - Kennedy,  Esq.  and  the  high  sheriff, 

both  highly  intelligent  men,  deem  the  western  country  the 
best  for  the  employment  of  capital,  because,  say  they,  we, 
if  there,  could  send  our  surplus  [164]  produce  to  New 
Orleans,  at  a  less  expense  than  the  Hager’ s-town  people 
can  send  theirs  to  Baltimore.  We  think  that  in  time  to 
come,  when  merchants  of  capital  settle  in  Orleans,  all 
western  produce  will  find  a  good  market  there;  and  that 


1 66 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


good  land  at  reduced  prices  is  not  to  be  had  generally  in 
the  eastern  states,  for  when  a  forced  sale  is  made,  creditors 
commonly  take  good  care  it  shall  make  about  its  value,  or 
sufficient  to  cover  the  debts.  Where  there  are  no  creditors, 
it  may  sometimes,  but  not  often,  be  otherwise. 

5 th. —  We  rode  this  day  over  our  English  General  Brad- 
dock’s  grave.  To  prevent  the  Indians,  then  in  pursuit, 
from  discovering  his  body,  he  ordered  it  to  be  buried  in 
the  midst  of  the  road,  at  the  foot  of  the  Allegany  moun¬ 
tains,  in  1756.39 

I  slept  at  Cumberland,  on  the  Monongahela,  whe**e  are 
the  remains  of  a  British  fort  once  used  against  the  Indians.40 

6th. —  Off,  an  hour  before  day-light,  along  the  banks  of 
the  Monongahela.  Just  as  we  were  starting,  up  came  a 
Mr.  Morgan  and  six  negroes,  requesting  of  the  gentlemen 
passengers  that  he  and  his  negroes  might  be  graciously 
permitted  to  share  the  stage  with  us:  we  consented.  My 
companions’  compliance,  indeed,  surprised  me  a  little,  and 
in  came  Morgan  and  his  black  cattle.  He  had  been 
round  the  country  jobbing,  like  a  pig- jobber  in  England, 
and  had  bought  half  a  score;  but  they,  feeling  themselves 
in  a  free  state,  snuffed  [165]  up  free  air,  and  took  the 
liberty  to  escape.  He  was  unable  to  recover  more  than 
six;  four  were  lost  and  most  reluctantly  abandoned.  He 
bought  them,  he  said,  for  a  gentleman  planter,  in  the  dis¬ 
tant  territory  of  Missouri,  to  which  they  were  going  down 
the  Ohio  river.  Within  two  miles  east  of  Washington, 
Pennsylvania,  we  found  that  the  strap,  which  confined  our 
luggage,  had  given  way,  and  scattered  Morgan’s  trunks 

39  Beside  the  Cumberland  National  Road,  which  Faux  was  pursuing,  twelve 
miles  east  of  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania.  The  date  was  1755,  not  1756. —  Ed. 

40  An  error  for  Brownsville.  For  a  brief  account  of  this  place,  see  F.  A. 
Michaux’s  Travels ,  volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  23. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


16  7 


and  money  a  few  miles  behind.  We  sent  men  and  horses 
back,  and  to  our  surprise  found  all  safe.  On  leaving 
Washington,  several  other  gentlemen  entered  our  stage,  but 
would  not  permit  Mr.  Morgan  and  his  negroes  to  enter. 
—  ‘ ‘  What  ?  ”  said  they,  4  ‘ride  with  negroes  ?” —  Much 
strife  now  ensued,  and  a  battle  was  intended;  but  to  quiet 
the  angry  passions  of  both  sides,  a  stage  was  provided 
for  the  refusing  party.  Our  ride,  for  the  last  three  hours 
of  our  journey,  was  fearfully  romantic,  amongst  huge 
rocks  which  hung  over  on  both  sides  and  seemed  ready 
to  fall  upon  us,  the  effect  of  which  was  greatly  heightened 
by  the  moon-light. 

Between  twelve  and  one  o’clock  we  reached  Wheeling, 
Virginia,  on  the  Ohio,  and  went  supperless  to  bed.  I 
shared  mine  with  a  young  student,  Mr.  Paul,  of  Washington 
Academy,41  now  bound  to  his  father’s  house  at  Maddison 
Ville,  Indiana,  who  is  there  a  Banker,  or  Bank  Director. 

7 th. —  We  found  the  Ohio  river  nearly  dry,  so  droughty 
has  been  the  summer.  It  is  now  fed  [166]  only  by  moun¬ 
tain  springs.  Here  I  unexpectedly  met  my  friend  Mr. 
Edney  and  lady  from  the  Isle  of  Wight,  a  branch  of  the 
Pittiss  family  of  that  Isle.  I  dined  with  him  at  his 
boarding-house,  and  agreed  to  visit  his  recently  hired  farm. 
I  received  an  invitation  from  a  learned  Doctor  to  ride  800 
miles  down  the  Ohio  with  him  and  his  Excellency  Gover¬ 
nor  Miller,  just  chosen  king  of  and  going  to  the  Arkansaw 
territory.42  I  waited  five  days  for  his  Excellency  and  his 
aquatic  suite,  but  lack  of  water  prevented  his  arrival. 

41  For  notes  on  Washington  and  Washington  University,  see  Harris’s  Jour¬ 
nal,  volume  iii  of  our  series,  notes  31,  32. —  Ed. 

42  James  Miller  (1776-1851),  a  hero  of  the  War  of  1812-15,  was  governor  of 
Arkansas  Territory  1819-23.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  thereafter  he  was  col¬ 
lector  of  customs  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  where  Hawthorne  knew  him  as 
“New  England’s  most  distinguished  soldier.” —  Ed. 


1 68 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


8th. —  I  crossed  the  Ohio  with  Mr.  Edney,  to  view  and 
examine  his  farm,  on  mountainous  banks,  down  to  the 
margin  of  the  river.  It  consists  of  500  acres,  hill  and  dale, 
or  river-bottom  and  mountain  land,  the  best  and  richest 
in  the  state  of  Ohio,  seven  miles  from  Wheeling  and  other 
good  markets.  Two  hundred  acres  have  been  cleared 
and  cultivated  twenty  years.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  are 
in  wood,  mountain  land,  too  high  and  steep  for  the  plough, 
and  which,  if  ploughed,  would  all  wash  away.  Eighty 
acres  are  in  pasture,  natural  pasture,  the  richest,  finest, 
and  most  luxuriant  I  ever  saw.  So  thick  and  matted  is 
it,  with  fine  natural  grass  and  white  clover,  that  it  is  with 
difficulty  I  can  force  my  foot  through  it  to  the  soil,  which 
is  a  sandy  loam,  and  has  been  crowded  with  cattle  all  this 
summer,  the  dryest  ever  remembered.  But  all  river- 
bottoms  are  cool,  rich,  and  inexhaustible.  The  arable 
[167]  land  has  been  cropped  fifteen  years  successively,  yet 
still  the  wheat-stubble  and  corn-stalks  are  strong,  thick, 
and  rank,  and  the  land  on  which  the  wheat  grew  is  well 
laid  down,  or  seeded  with  natural  grass  and  white  clover, 
a  smothering  plant  of  both,  and  all  done  by  the  hand  of 
provident  nature.  So  complete  is  it,  that  an  English 
farmer  would  say,  “What  a  fool  have  you  been,  thus  to 
waste  your  grass  seeds.”  It  is  now,  two  months  after  har¬ 
vest,  a  complete  fattening  pasture,  and,  but  for  the  stubble 
staring  in  it,  might  be  mistaken  for  an  old  home-stall 
poisoned  with  manure,  and  too  rich  and  rank,  or  sour,  for 
use,  and  therefore  to  be  broken  up.  This  bottom  land, 
however,  may  well  be  rich,  for  it  has  been  robbing  the 
mountains  from  time  immemorial.  Amongst  the  corn 
still  standing,  although  well  horse-hoed  six  weeks  ago, 
are  seen  rank  weeds,  tall  as  the  tall  corn.  The  sun  makes 
every  inch  a  hot-bed.  Ploughing  seems  shamefully  per- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


169 


formed,  not  half  the  land  is  turned  over  or  downwards. 
It  seems,  (as  we  say  at  Somersham)  as  though  it  was 
ploughed  with  a  ram’s  horn,  or  the  snout  of  a  hog,  hungry 
after  grubs  and  roots. 

The  mountain  land  is  good,  and  well  stored,  and  en¬ 
riched  with  huge  sugar  trees,  which  are  tapped  every 
spring,  and  many  cwts.  made  therefrom;  but  much  of 
this  land  is  too  steep  for  cattle  to  climb  up  it,  and  the  timber 
is  of  little  or  no  worth  save  for  the  uses  of  the  farm  and 
fire.  Mr.  [168]  Edney  has  this  estate,  on  lease  of  14  years, 
from  Squire  Zain,  the  head  man  of  Wheeling.43  The  rent 
for  the  first  three  years,  is  400  dollars;  the  next  three  years, 
500  dollars;  the  remaining  eight  years,  600  dollars.  Three 
years’  notice  to  be  given  if  he  wishes,  or  is  wished  to  leave 
before  the  expiration  of  the  lease.  The  cost  of  necessary 
farm-buildings  to  be  deducted  from  the  rent.  This  land 
was,  this  year,  bought  by  Mr.  Zain,  at  18  dollars  an  acre, 
but  thought  to  be  worth  not  above  12  dollars,  because 
received  in  lieu  of  a  debt.  Mr.  Edney  is,  it  is  thought, 
cheated ;  the  good  opinion  of  the  neighbourhood  is  against 
his  bargain.  “What  he  will  thus  expend  would  have 
bought  a  better  farm. —  The  landlord  would  have  been 
glad  of  him  rent  free.”  The  farm,  however,  is  very  good, 
and  susceptible  of  great  improvement.  Nature  has  here 
done  all  she  can,  and  art  little  or  nothing. 

9 th. —  A  miserably  wet  (and  as  sailors  say)  dirty  day. 
I  fell  sick  of  Wheeling,  imprisoned  by  a  high  and  almost 
inaccessible  mountain,  to  the  top  of  which  I  climbed  yes¬ 
terday.  I  revisited  Mr.  Edney,  who  has  wrangled  and 
parted  with  his  father-in-law,  once  my  hospitable  host  at 
the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  with  his  family  have  settled  down 

43  For  a  short  account  of  Wheeling  and  Ebenezer  Zane,  see  A.  Michaux’s 
Travels ,  volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  15. —  Ed. 


170 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


on  wood-land,  all  in  wood,  40  miles  in  the  state  of  Ohio. 
One  son  is  to  be  planted  there,  and  the  rest,  with  himself, 
in  better  Missouri;  but  he  is  very  undecided,  and  finds 
that  America  is  not  Newport ,  in  England.  He  lost  all 
his  horses,  [169]  cows,  dogs,  and  men  and  maids  brought 
over  as  hired  servants.  The  animals  were  stolen,  or  they 
strayed  and  died,  while  his  servants  snuffed  up  free  air 
and  fled,  except  one  female  who  fell  in  love,  while  on 
board,  with  the  black  steward,  and  who,  on  landing,  went 
to  a  magistrate,  at  Baltimore,  for  marriage;  but  his  wor¬ 
ship  said  that  it  was  contrary  to  custom  and  the  law  of 
the  land,  for  a  white  woman  to  marry  a  negro,  and  he 
could  not  and  should  not  allow  it. 

Sunday ,  10 th. —  By  free  and  frequent  conversations 
with  intelligent  residents  and  travellers  here,  I  find  that 
public  opinion  is  favourable  to  location  in  the  western 
country,  which  they  say  has  never  yet  lacked  a  market  for 
surplus  produce;  and  as  men  of  capital  only  can  raise 
produce,  and  as  their  number  is  comparatively  few,  it  is 
unlikely  that  the  surplus  produce  will  ever  greatly  exceed 
the  demand.  Much  of  what  is  raised  will  necessarily  be 
consumed  by  those  who  raise  none;  and  some  will  always 
be  wanted  at  New  Orleans  and  other  river  towns, 
cities,  and  new  settlements.  This,  in  part,  is  true.  So¬ 
ciety,  say  they,  in  the  west  is  almost  as  cheaply  attainable 
to  farmers  as  in  the  east,  for  in  both  he  must  seek  it  in 
towns  and  distant  cities,  save  what  his  own  family  affords. 
Mellish,44  in  a  recent  publication,  says,  ‘  ‘the  flower  of  the 
east  is  seen  moving  west.”  I  think  so  too,  for  what  finer 
men  can  I  expect  to  meet  than  those  whom  I  have  seen 
moving  from  [1 70]  thence  westward  ?  I  called  on  Mr. 

44  For  the  life  of  Mellish,  see  Bradbury’s  Travels,  volume  v  of  our  series, 
note  129. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


171 


Yandal,  a  gentleman  whose  ancestors  accompanied 
William  Penn  to  this  country.  He  seemed  proud  of  his 
English  origin;  and  introduced  me  to  an  English  brewer, 
who  (the  people  here  say)  is  to  gain  100  per  cent,  on  his 
capital  employed.  He  has  bought  a  brewery  from  a 
Wheeling  gentleman,  who  is  fitting  up  another  brewhouse 
in  opposition,  contrary  to  stipulations.  Mr.  Edney  yes¬ 
terday  bought  two  horses  at  50  dollars,  his  own  price, 
but  not  worth  above  25  dollars  each.  All  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  know  that  my  green  and  liberal  friend  has  Eng¬ 
lish  money,  and  all  conspire  against  it. 

nth. —  Waggons  (not  many)  are  daily  arriving  with 
goods  and  emigrants  for  the  river,  down  which,  when  the 
waters  rise,  they  are  to  float  in  flat  boats  called  arks,  two 
and  two  of  many  living  creeping  things,  occasionally 
anchoring  on  the  banks  and  surveying  the  promised  land. 
A  gentleman  recently  called  at  the  Cincinnati  bank  for 
specie,  or  good  negotiable  paper.  ‘  ‘No,”  was  the  answer, 
‘  ‘we,  sir,  have  neither.”  The  paper  of  that  city,  the  pride 
of  the  west,  is  negotiable  only  in  the  city  for  necessaries, 
and  there  only  at  30  and  40  per  centum  below  par,  or 
United  States’  paper.  The  best  mode  of  dealing  here  is, 
on  your  arrival,  to  go  to  the  Cincinnati  broker  and  sell 
just  so  much  of  the  United  States’  paper  as  will  get  you 
enough  of  their  paper  for  expenses  at  the  tavern  or  else¬ 
where;  all  must  be  spent  here,  [1 71]  none  taken  away,  for 
out  of  the  city  it  is  mere  waste  paper.  Such  are  banks, 
banking,  and  bankers;  let  therefore  the  traveller  hereafter 
not  depend  on  them,  but  take  with  him  either  hard  dollars 
or  notes  of  the  United  States’  bank  or  its  branches. 

12 th. —  I  left  Wheeling  at  eight  this  morning;  the  tavern 
bill  three  and  a  half  dollars  per  week  for  board  merely.  I 
crossed  the  Ohio  into  the  state  so  called,  and  passed 


1 72 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


briskly  through  St.  Clair’s  Ville  and  Morris- town, 45  and 
a  hilly  country;  all  fine  land  in  grain,  corn,  and  pasture, 
with  a  beautiful  clover  face,  white  as  with  a  shower  of 
sleet ;  and  abundanece  of  flourishing  orchards  full,  above 
and  below,  of  excellent  fruit,  although  sixteen  years  ago 
all  was  wild,  and  a  complete  forest.  In  almost  every 
orchard  is  seen  a  cider  press,  and  under  every  tree  large 
apples,  so  thick  that  at  every  step  you  must  tread  upon 
them,  while  the  boughs  above  are  breaking  down  with 
their  overladen  weight.  It  is  here  no  crime  for  either 
man  or  beast  to  rob  orchards.  Land  is  worth  from  15 
to  30  dollars  an  acre,  with  all  improvements  included, 
and  a  market,  as  yet,  for  all  surplus  produce.  At  30 
miles’  end,  I  rested  for  the  night  at  a  homely  but  comfort¬ 
able  stage-house  on  the  road,  with  a  young  Irishman, 
Robert  G.  Ormsby,  Esq.  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  aged 
21,  of  fine  person  and  manners,  and  a  fellow  student  of 
the  celebrated  Irish  orator,  Charles  Phillips,  Esq.46  [172] 
He  has  been  four  years  in  this  country  with  rich  uncles; 
is  a  favourite  with  the  ladies,  and  is  now  on  his  way  to 
Pittsburgh,  to  marry  a  beautiful  American  with  many 
thousands  of  dollars.  “So  general,”  says  he,  “in  Ken¬ 
tucky  is  the  intercourse  between  white  men  and  black  and 
yellow  women,  that  soon  it  will  indeed  be  difficult  to  know 
and  distinguish  who  is  who.” 

1 3th. —  I  started  alone  at  three  this  morning,  well 

45  St.  Clairsville,  eleven  miles  west  of  Wheeling,  was  platted  in  1801,  and 
eight  years  thereafter  contained  seventy-nine  dwelling  houses.  The  proprietor 
was  David  Newell,  who  migrated  (about  1795)  from  Westmoreland  County, 
Pennsylvania.  He  named  his  town  in  honor  of  his  cousin,  General  Arthur  St. 
Clair. 

Morristown,  platted  a  year  after  St.  Clairsville,  is  a  small  town  about  ten 
miles  west  of  that  city. —  Ed. 

40  An  Irish  barrister  (1788  ?-i859),  whose  speeches  gained  him  a  wide  repu¬ 
tation. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  yournal 


*73 


pleased  with  Mr.  Ormsby,  who  mounted  his  stage  for 
the  east,  and  I  mine  for  the  west.  In  consequence  of 
thus  meeting  with  this  gentleman,  I  determined  for  the 
future,  on  always  breaking  through  the  custom  of  waiting 
for  introductions  before  entering  into  conversation. 

At  four  this  morning,  on  the  driver  getting  down  to 
lock  the  wheel,  the  horses  started,  and  instantly  struck  a 
stump  of  a  tree,  and  upset  the  mail  with  a  crashing  fall, 
which  bruised  my  side,  cut  my  face,  and  blackened  my 
eyes;  the  two  leaders  escaped  into  the  forest,  and  we  saw 
them  no  more.  The  driver  went  in  pursuit  of  them,  and 
left  me  to  guard  and  sleep  one  hour  and  a  half  in  the 
damaged  vehicle,  now  nearly  bottom  upwards.  When  I 
awoke  it  was  daylight,  and  I  walked  up  to  a  farm  log- 
house,  the  people  of  which  put  their  heads  out  of  the 
window  and  thus  addressed  me, —  “Stranger,  come  into 
the  fire !,?  and  I  went  in,  without  being  burned.  At  five, 
the  driver  returned,  and  with  two  horses  [173]  only,  we 
got  under  way,  and  moved  on  through  Cambridge  and 
Washington  to  breakfast,  and  at  sun-set  reached  our  inn 
at  Zainsville,  where  I  determined  on  resting  a  few  days  to 
repair  the  damages  of  the  past  day. 

My  inn  is  a  good  one,  stored  with  newspapers,  and  full 
of  good  things,  and  visitors  to  devour  them;  and  the  town 
of  Zainsville  is  very  flourishing,  and  likely  to  become  a 
city.47  It  is  now  a  county  seat  and  a  fountain  of  law  and 
justice,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  fair  Muskingham 
river,  84  miles  from  Wheeling;  eighteen  years  old,  with 
3,000  inhabitants;  good  land  20  dollars  an  acre;  plenty  of 
coal  and  excellent  water,  being  well  supplied  by  springs 
and  the  river,  and  affording  good  society;  many  strangers 

47  For  the  early  history  of  Zanesville,  see  Cuming’s  Tour,  volume  iv  of  our 
series,  note  85. —  Ed. 


1 74- 


Ear  fy  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


continually  passing  to  and  fro.  Here  is  kept  a  folio  regis¬ 
ter,  in  which  travellers  write  their  names,  from  whence 
they  come,  and  whither  they  are  bound,  with  any  news 
which  they  bring  with  them.  The  bank  paper  of  this 
town  is  20  or  30  per  cent,  below  par.  The  supreme  court 
of  assize  is  now  sitting,  and  the  supreme  judge,  Wilson, 
who  lodges  at  my  quarters,  is  now  to  be  my  nightly  com¬ 
panion  in  table-talk.48  His  lordship  calls  me  “stranger,” 
and  guesses  me  to  be  an  Irishman.  He  is  surprised  that 
I  speak  so  well,  and  wonders  how  many  “dialects,”  we 
have  in  England.  ‘  ‘  I  saw,”  says  he,  ‘  ‘  lately,  a  lady  from 
your  country,  who  wondered  at  hearing  the  English 
language  so  well  [174]  spoken  here.” — “We  seem,  sir,” 
said  I,  ‘  ‘a  wonder  unto  each  other !  In  this  western  coun¬ 
try  you  see  emigrants  only  of  an  uneducated  class,  a  low 
grade,  full  of  provincialisms  in  their  talk.”  Judge  Wilson 
is  intimately  known  to  and  acquainted  with  several  nations 
of  Indians.  “Several  persons,”  says  he,  “have  in  my 
time  voluntarily  turned  Indians;  one,  a  child  taken  from 
Virginia,  is  now  a  squaw,  but  more  delicate  in  her  conduct : 
she  of  course  retains  her  original  colour,  and  seems  the 
better  for  her  civilized  origin.” 

14 th. —  Rambling  round  and  through  the  town  I  saw 
a  glass-house,  and  several  fine  mills,  having  at  command 
all  the  water  of  the  river,  which  might  be  made  to  work 
mills  without  number,  and  machinery  of  an  infinite  va¬ 
riety.  I  wandered  in  the  fields  shooting  pigeons,  which 
is  here  fine  sport;  they  fly  and  alight  around  you  on  every 
tree,  in  immense  flocks,  and  loving  to  be  shot.  They  are 

48  William  Wilson  was  reared  on  a  farm  near  Dunbarton,  New  Hampshire, 
and  when  a  young  man  went  to  Ohio  and  settled  at  Newark.  Although  a  brief¬ 
less  lawyer,  his  friends  obtained  for  him  an  appointment  as  circuit  judge  (1808), 
and  he  retained  the  office  for  about  fifteen  years.  He  was  elected  to  Congress 
in  1823,  and  again  in  1825. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


175 


rather  smaller  than  English  pigeons,  and  have  a  lilac 
breast;  but  in  other  respects  are  blue,  or  blue  grey.  They 
breed  in  the  woods,  and  seem  to  court  death  by  the  gun, 
the  sound  of  which  appears  to  call  them  together,  instead 
of  scaring  them  away;  a  fowling-piece  well  charged  with 
dust  shot  might  bring  down  a  bushel  of  these  willing  game 
dead  at  your  feet. 

At  noon,  I  roamed  into  the  supreme  court,  where  I 
saw  my  new  friend,  the  supreme  judge,  Wilson,  on 
the  bench,  in  the  midst  of  three  rustic,  [175]  dirty- 
looking  associate  judges,  all  robeless,  and  dressed  in 
coarse  drab,  domestic,  homespun  coats,  dark  silk  hand¬ 
kerchiefs  round  their  necks,  and  otherwise  not  superior 
in  outward  appearance  to  our  low  fen-farmers  in  England. 
Thus  they  sat,  presiding  with  ease  and  ability  over  a  bar 
of  plain  talkative  lawyers,  all  robeless,  very  funny  and 
conversational  in  their  speeches,  manners,  and  conduct; 
dressed  in  plain  box-coats,  and  sitting  with  their  feet  and 
knees  higher  than  their  noses,  and  pointing  obliquely  to 
the  bench  of  judges;  thus  making  their  speeches,  and 
examining  and  cross-examining  evidence  at  a  plain  long 
table,  with  a  brown  earthen  jug  of  cold  water  before  them, 
for  occasionally  wetting  their  whistles,  and  washing  their 
quid-stained  lips:  all,  judges,  jury,  counsel,  witnesses, 
and  prisoners,  seemed  free,  easy,  and  happy.  The  su¬ 
preme  judge  is  only  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  a 
shabby  blue  threadbare  coat,  dirty  trowsers,  and  un¬ 
blacked  shoes.  Thus  sat  all  their  lordships,  freely  and 
frequently  chewing  tobacco,  and  appearing  as  uninter¬ 
ested  as  could  be.  Judge  Wilson  is,  however,  a  smart 
intelligent  man,  rather  jocular,  and,  I  think,  kind-hearted. 

15 th. —  Talked  with  a  farmer  from  Pennsylvania,  who, 
ten  years  ago,  bought  his  land  near  this  town  at  two  dol- 


176 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


lars  uncleared,  and  the  best,  he  calls  it,  in  Ohio.  The 
first  crop  of  wheat  was  35  bushels  per  acre,  but  never  so 
much  after;  it  now  averages  20  [176]  to  25  bushels  per 
acre,  at  63  cents  per  bushel,  about  2s.  lod.  sterling;  then, 
not  half  that  price :  40  bushels  of  oats,  per  acre,  at  20  cents, 
about  9 d.  sterling;  but  will  be  worth  60  cents,  or  2 s.  4 d. 
per  bushel.  He  gave,  this  year,  three  dollars  for  clearing 
land,  50  per  cent,  above  the  cost  price  of  fee  simple. 
Clearing,  means  simply  grubbing  up  small  surface-roots 
in  the  way  of  the  plough,  and  cutting  down  a  few  large 
trees  within  about  three  feet  of  the  ground,  and  deaden¬ 
ing  or  girdling  the  rest,  which  is  done  by  cutting  out 
about  three  feet  of  bark  all  round  the  body  of  the  hugest 
trunks,  which  then,  root  and  branch,  begin  to  die.  What 
are  cut  down,  together  with  the  lop,  are  rolled  by  levers 
into  heaps  and  burnt.  He  has  lived  on  it,  and  can  now 
sell  his  estate,  with  all  improvements,  at  only  ten  dollars 
an  acre.  He  always  found  a  market  for  produce,  at  some 
price.  He  believes  the  land  about  Frederick  and  Hager’s 
towns  much  better  than  this,  because  there  it  is  limestone 
land,  and  therefore  more  enduring.  “I  would  leave 
Ohio,”  says  he,  “if  I  could  sell  out  well  here,  and  return 
to  the  land  of  fish  and  good  oysters,  my  dear  native  Penn¬ 
sylvania.  Plaster  is  never  used  here,  but  if  the  land  were 
fallowed,  as  in  some  parts  of  the  east,  we  could  grow  40 
bushels  per  acre.” 

16 th. —  At  three  this  morning,  I  left  Zainsville,  so  called 
in  honour  of  Mr.  Zain,  of  Wheeling,  who  has  here  a  large 
estate  given  him  by  the  state,  for  [177]  cutting  a  road  from 
Wheeling  to  this  town.49  On  changing  horses,  I  spoke 
to  a  potatoe  farmer,  who  raises  only  100  bushels  per  acre 

49  For  Zane’s  Trace,  consult  Cuming’s  Tour ,  volume  iv  of  our  series,  note 
135.—  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


l77 


on  rich  land,  and  sells  them  at  half  a  dollar  per  bushel; 
just  300  less  in  quantity  per  acre,  and  100  per  cent,  more 
in  price  than  in  England.  “I  guess,”  says  he,  “that  we 
Ohio  folks  do  not  manage  potatoes  so  well  as  they  do  in 
Ireland  and  England.” — “No,  sir,  if  I  may  judge  by  your 
quantity,  you  do  not  indeed.”  “No,  I  guess  not.”  Quan¬ 
tity  of  acres  of  produce  is  here  thought  to  be  of  much 
greater  importance  than  quantity  per  acre.  The  great 
object  is  to  have  as  many  acres  as  possible  cleared, 
ploughed,  set,  sown,  planted,  and  managed  by  as  few 
hands  as  possible;  there  being  little  capital,  and  therefore 
little  or  none  to  spare  for  hired  labour.  Instead  of  five 
acres  well-managed,  they  must  have  20  acres  badly  man¬ 
aged.  It  is  not  how  much  corn  can  be  raised  on  an  acre, 
but  how  much  from  one  hand  or  man,  the  land  being 
nothing  in  comparison  with  labour.  Eight  hundred  dol¬ 
lars  per  hand  is,  and  has  been  made  from  one  slave  annu¬ 
ally. 

I  passed  all  this  day  through  a  fine  rich  landed  country, 
full  of  the  natural  means  of  living  well  by  the  sweat  of 
the  brow.  The  poor  complain  of  want  of  money,  and 
others  of  a  scarcity  of  it;  but  none  of  want  of  common 
necessaries,  such  as  bread,  meat,  and  whiskey.  At  my 
inn  for  the  night,  I  met  and  spent  the  evening  with  Mr. 
Chichester,  [178]  a  polished,  gay,  and  interesting  American 
gentleman,  travelling  together  with  his  mother  and  sister, 
in  their  family  carriage,  attended  by  a  negro,  from  Ken¬ 
tucky  to  Virginia.  I  found  them  very  communicable  and 
free  with  me  on  discovering  that  I  was  an  Englishman, 
bound  to  their  Illinois  friends,  the  Flower  family  ;  “who,” 
they  say,  ‘  ‘are  very  happy  and  content  in  their  log  cabin, 
where  balls  and  good  society  are  often  found.”  “This 
family,”  says  Mr.  Chichester,  “is  very  popular,  and  of 


178 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


great  benefit  to  all  kinds  of  settlers  in  the  neighbourhood, 
disposed  to  build  and  settle  down.  Mr.  Flower  must  en¬ 
rich  himself  and  family  by  the  increasing  value  of  land 
bought;  the  only  way  now  of  making  money  any  where. 
Land  generally  in  the  west  is  fallen  50  per  cent.,  and 
farming  there  is  slow  money-making,  but  farmers  can 
live.”  “And  what  more,”  said  I,  “can  they  do  in  the 
east?”  He  believes  that  raising  and  grazing  cattle  and 
pigs,  is  here  a  more  certain  game  than  agriculture,  and, 
for  a  small  family  with  capital,  he  thinks  that  the  east  is 
to  be  preferred,  especially  as  land  improved  can  be  now 
purchased  there  at  a  low  price,  with  the  certainty  of  a 
convenient  market.  He  thinks  that  Ohio  and  Kentucky 
do  not  average  above  20  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre;  nor 
even  that,  because  the  management  is  so  bad.  “There 
is  more  ignorance,  sir,  in  the  state  of  Ohio  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  union.  Not  many  are  able  to  write 
their  [179]  names,  and  in  the  thinly  settled  parts  of  Ken¬ 
tucky,  ten  dollars  will  procure  you  the  life  and  blood  of 
any  man.  Negroes,  you  see,  are  here  in  Ohio  equal,  and 
placed  at  the  same  table  with  whites.  I  knew  a  party  of 
whites  who  last  year  in  Kentucky  roasted  to  death,  be¬ 
fore  a  large  log  fire,  one  of  their  friends,  because  he  re¬ 
fused  to  drink.  They  did  it  thus : —  Three  or  four  of 
them  shoved  and  held  him  up  to  the  fire  until  they  them¬ 
selves  could  stand  it  no  longer;  and  he  died  in  20  hours 
after.  No  legal  inquiry  took  place,  nor,  indeed,  ever  takes 
place  amongst  Rowdies ,  as  the  back- woodsmen  are  called.” 

“In  America,”  says  Mr.  Chichester,  “gentlemen  seek 
not  to  marry  young  ladies  with  fortunes :  they  are  too  high 
minded  to  have  it  said  that  they  marry  for  money ;  but,  if 
the  lady’s  father  has  money,  they  expect  that  he  will  give 
her  some,  either  during  his  life  or  at  his  death.  Children, 


f 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


l7  9 


though  you,  sir,  think  differently,  are  very  kind  and  duti¬ 
ful  to  their  parents.” 

Sunday ,  1 7 th. —  At  Chilicothe  to  breakfast,  where  I 
rest  for  the  day  and  night.  This  town  is  situated  on  the 
beautiful  Sciota  river,  in  a  rich  valley  of  plantations.50 
Its  population  is  3,000,  and  its  age  20  years.  Many  houses 
and  town  lots  are  deserted  for  migration  further  west. 
The  American  has  always  something  better  in  his  eye, 
further  west;  he  therefore  lives  and  dies  on  hope,  a  [180] 
mere  gypsey  in  this  particular.  The  land  is  here  very  fine, 
of  a  dark,  loamy,  rich  soil,  inexhaustible,  and  apparently 
alluvial.  The  pasture,  even  during  drought,  is  full  of 
clover.  It  is  worth  20  dollars  an  acre  generally,  if  im¬ 
proved,  that  is,  cleared.  It  costs  ten  dollars  an  acre  to 
clear  and  enclose  it,  if  all  the  trees  are  cut  down  and 
burnt,  or  otherwise  removed.  Log  heaving,  that  is,  roll¬ 
ing  trees  together  for  burning,  is  done  by  the  neighbours 
in  a  body,  invited  for  the  purpose,  as  if  to  a  feast  or  frolic. 
This  custom  is  beneficial  and  fraternal,  and  none  refuse 
their  laborious  attentions.  Nine  tenths  of  the  adult  pop¬ 
ulation  here  own  and  cultivate  land.  A  market,  there¬ 
fore,  is  not  now  so  certain,  nor  will  it  be  in  days  to  come, 
as  in  the  east,  though  some  price  is  generally  to  be  had 
for  produce  (says  my  informant),  at  New  Orleans;  but 
when  much  land  becomes  cleared  and  productive,  the 
market  every  where,  without  foreign  demand,  must  be 
glutted.  This  evil,  however,  will  check  itself;  less  pro¬ 
duce  will  be  raised  when  it  cannot  be  sold.  But  as  the 
farmers  have  little  capital  to  employ  in  cultivation,  the 
surplus  produce  will  never  be  very  superabundant.  If, 
however,  they  had  more  capital  they  would  not  employ 

50  A  brief  account  of  Chillicothe  may  be  found  in  A.  Michaux’s  Travels , 
volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  35. —  Ed. 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


1 80 


it  in  raising  unmarketable  commodities,  but  turn  it,  if 
possible,  into  other  channels. 

Fat  fowls  are  here  one  dollar  per  dozen;  pork  and  beef 
four  cents,  or  two  pence  per  pound;  bacon  [181]  io  to  12 
cents  per  pound, 4  50  per  cent,  being  gained  by  smoking 
and  drying.  Two  years  old  steers,  fat  and  good,  for  12 
dollars  each. 

The  qualifications  for  voting  at  an  election  in  Ohio  are, 
that  the  voter  must  be  a  citizen,  resident  two  years  in  the 
state,  one  year  in  the  county,  and  21  years  of  age.  Some¬ 
times  he  is  known  to  vote  from  three  to  six  times  at  one 
and  the  same  election,  and  sometimes  strangers  are 
brought  in  to  vote. 

Com  and  wheat  are  here  prodigiously  cheap;  the  first 
is  iod.,  and  the  latter  2s.  3 d.  sterling  per  bushel.  Seventy- 
five  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  cost  only  six  and  a  quarter 
cents,  three  pence  half-penny  per  bushel.  Three  men 
and  three  horses  here  raise  100  acres,  if  they  will,  or  30 
acres  commonly.  Nothing  is  reckoned  for  land;  land  is 
nothing;  labour  every  thing.  In  England  it  was  almost 
vice  vers&,  ten  years  since. 

I  saw  an  ancient  mound  of  huge  circumference  and 
great  altitude,51  and  a  large  bricked  house  (a  rare  thing 
here)  split,  and  its  position  altered  by  the  earthquake 
which  visited  Ohio  in  1815.  The  buildings  generally 
vibrated  from  four  to  five  inches.  Sugar  loaves  and  tin 
vessels  suspended  from  the  ceilings  of  shops  and  stores, 
violently  struck  each  other,  and  palpably  shewed  the 
exact  vibration.  “It  shook  people,”  says  my  friend,  the 
Chilicothe  squire,  “out  of  their  beds,  knocked  down 
brick  chimneys,  and  made  the  old  log  [182]  houses  crack 

61  For  these  Indian  mounds,  see  Cuming’s  Tour ,  volume  iv,  of  our  series, 
note  76. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


181 


and  rattle;  and  on  the  Ohio  banks,  the  earth  and  trees 
rolled  down  in  immense  masses  into  the  bed  of  the  river. 
On  the  Mississipi  too,  the  convulsive  motion  of  the 
water  was  truly  awful,  running  and  rising  mountains  high, 
and  in  one  part  of  that  river  a  stream  of  fire  rushed  from 
and  divided  the  water,  while  the  solid  land  on  the  high 
mountainous  banks  was  seen  in  an  undulating  agitation, 
like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  New  Madrid  sunk  down  sev¬ 
eral  feet,  without  the  earth  opening  her  mouth  to  swallow. 
The  land,  however,  in  many  parts  round  this  town,  is 
covered  with  water.  It  is  frequently  visited  with  a  shock.” 

1 8th. —  At  nine  this  morning  I  left  sweet  Chilicothe 
and  the  squire,  who  called  to  take  his  leave  of  me,  and 
who  seemed  to  part  from  me  with  regret,  and  I  with 
him,  on  account  of  his  intelligent  and  communicative 
spirit. 

A  genteel  young  man  was  boarding  here  and  had  a  room 
to  himself.  ‘  ‘Who  is  it  ?”  ‘  ‘Why,  it  is  Judge  Grimpe.”52 

A  gentlemanly  man,  seeming,  a  recluse,  of  unsociable  and 
steady  studious  habits,  with  a  salary  of  1,000  dollars  a 
year,  which  surely  cannot  compensate  such  a  man  for 
such  services. 

The  road  from  Wheeling  in  Virginia,  through  this  town, 
to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  360  miles,  was  cut  entirely  by 
the  father  of  the  present  Squire  Zain,  a  rich  citizen,  to 
whom  I  was  introduced,  and  who  for  such  signal  services 
had  the  power  [183]  of  choosing  the  best  land  all  along 
this  road.  Hence  he  became  very  rich.  Mr.  Zain  is 

62  Frederick  Grimke  was  bom  in  South  Carolina  in  1791.  Graduated 
from  Yale  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  studied  law  and  practiced  in  his  native 
state  until  1819,  when  he  went  to  Chillicothe.  Serving  for  many  years  as  judge 
of  common  pleas,  in  1836  he  was  elected  to  the  supreme  bench  of  the  state. 
He  led  a  reserved  and  secluded  life,  devoting  much  thought  to  political  science 
and  literature.  He  published  (1848),  a  volume  entitled  The  Nature  and  Ten¬ 
dency  of  Free  Institutions. —  Ed. 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


i  82 


friendly  to  liberty,  it  is  said,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word, 
and  is  destined  to  leave  behind  him  a  town,  Zainsville, 
as  a  monument  to  the  Zain  family  for  ever. 

My  landlord  at  Chilicothe,  the  first  who  has  demeaned 
himself  so  much  as  to  say  at  parting  and  paying,  ‘  ‘I  am 
much  obliged  to  you,  sir,”  states,  that  he  recently  bought 
75  acres  of  good  land  in  Ohio,  at  the  small  price  of  75 
cents,  or  35.  4 \d.  per  acre.  It  was  at  a  forced  sale,  and 
the  land  has  since  been  privately  resold  at  three  dollars 
an  acre,  a  profit  of  350  per  cent.  Mr.  Co  wen  of  Dan¬ 
ville,  Kentucky,  one  of  the  twelve  fine  men  in  the  stage, 
over  the  mountains,  joined  me  again  to-day.53  He  states, 
that  Indians  willingly  sell  their  lands  and  territories,  as 
soon  as  white  settlers  begin  to  approach  and  encroach 
upon  them,  or  when  game  and  skins  become  scarce.  A 
few  weeks  since,  a  party  of  them  passing  quietly  through 
Ohio,  from  the  lakes,  were  wantonly  shot  at  by  a  white 
man,  when  a  pregnant  squaw  was  wounded  and  nearly 
killed.  The  offender  was  instantly  taken  and  put  in  jail 
for  trial ;  the  neighbourhood  shewed  them  every  kindness, 
and  the  civil  authority  lost  no  time  in  procuring  them 
justice.  This  was  good  policy.  But  the  Indians,  if  the 
squaw  dies,  insist  on  two  white  lives.  An  [184]  eye  for 
an  eye ;  a  tooth  for  a  tooth ;  exact  retaliation  is  their  law. 

Six  miles  west  of  Chilicothe,  the  land  is  remarkably 
rich.  Here  I  met  and  passed  General  M’Carty,  to  whom 
my  friend  nodded  and  said,  “How  do,  General.”  The 
General  looks  dirty  and  butcher-like,  and  very  unlike  a 
soldier  in  appearance,  seeming  half  savage,  and  dressed 
as  a  back- woodsman.  “Like  General  Jackson,”  says  my 

53  The  Cowans  were  prominent  in  the  early  settlement  of  Harrodsburg. 
Jared  and  John  came  to  Kentucky  (1774)  with  Captain  Harrod’s  company,  and 
John  was  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  first  court  at  Harrodsburg  (1781). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  ^Journal 


i83 


friend,  ‘  ‘he  is  fit  only  for  hard  knocks  and  Indian  warfare.” 
We  passed  his  seat,  very  little  bigger  and  no  better  than 
my  kitchen  at  Somersham.  ‘  ‘It  is  not  now  exactly  what 
it  was.  During  the  last  war  it  was  in  part  burnt  down, 
and  he  contents  himself  with  just  what  the  fire  left  him  — 
a  mere  apology  for  a  house.  It  stands  on  an  eminence 
close  to  the  road,  in  the  centre  of  a  large,  uncultivated, 
but  rich  domain.”  I  passed  plenty  of  sugar- trees,  and 
troughs  to  hold  the  sap  or  juice,  and  abundance  of  tall 
iron- weed  five  feet  high,  in  full  flower;  all  sure  indications 
of  fine  land,  and  seen  throughout  the  western  country, 
and  always  noted  by  land-hunters.  I  saw  at  Chilicothe, 
and  elsewhere,  to-day,  many  ancient  mounds,  and  one 
regular  extensive  fortification  now  defaced  by  the  plough. 
Many  such  are  found  over  these  wild  regions.  They  are 
evidently  the  handiwork  of  an  unknown  and  distant  age 
and  people,  whose  history,  and  every  [185]  relic  by  which 
they  might  perhaps  have  been  identified,  have  perished. 

I  had  fine  wild  venison  at  dinner  to-day,  good  and  fat 
as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  lord.  There  is  plenty  of  it  in 
this  section  of  the  country;  but  what  is  strange,  no  mutton, 
nor  beef  that  is  good,  where  it  ought  to  be  the  best.  Every 
thing,  though  wild,  is  generally  good,  except  beef,  which 
is  best  tame,  and  fed  on  cultivated,  instead  of  wild  vege¬ 
tables,  which  make  it  ill-flavoured,  dark,  and  tough. 
Found  iron-weed  all  day,  and  fine  extensive  peach  orchards 
of  several  acres  each,  having  nearly  half  the  trees  spoiled, 
by  hurricanes  breaking  down  their  boughs  when  heavily 
laden  with  fruit.  These  dead  arms,  or  boughs,  hang  on 
from  year  to  year,  until  they  rot  and  drop  of  themselves, 
and  the  sight  is  singularly  desolate  and  ruinous:  all  this 
for  the  want  of  a  pruning  knife  and  hatchet. 

At  eight,  p.  m.  I  reached  a  poor  log-house,  to  lodge  in, 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


1 84 


full  of  mean  company,  who  must  be  treated  with  as  much 
respect  as  the  highest,  and  so  I  treat  them,  and  receive 
much  coarse  kindness  in  return.  Kindness  begets  kind¬ 
ness;  nor  is  it  lost  upon  them.  An  Irish  emigrant,  said 
my  landlord  at  Chilicothe,  recently  rode  in  the  greatest 
possible  haste  all  one  night,  to  the  land  office  here,  to  make 
an  entry  of  a  section  of  land  uncleared,  which  pleased 
his  eye.  He  foolishly  thought  there  would  be  twenty  other 
competitors  [186]  for  it.  He  bought  it,  began  clearing 
and  fencing  it,  by  hired  hands,  determined  to  have  it  all 
in  cultivation  immediately,  as  though  it  was  the  only  spot 
to  be  bought  and  farmed  in  this  empire  of  unnumbered 
acres,  glutted  and  smothered  in  superabundance.  Poor 
Pat  was  mistaken ! 

19 th. —  I  started  this  morning  at  four  o’clock  in  frightful 
darkness,  darkness  which  might  be  felt,  and  over  a  horrid 
road ;  but  with  an  expert  driver,  and  good  horses,  we  move 
on  to  daylight  and  a  breakfast  fifteen  miles  off.  Here 
we  met,  at  breakfast,  the  high  sheriff  of  the  county,  a 
grey-headed,  rustic,  dirty-looking  old  man,  meaner  than 
a  village  constable  in  England,  but  a  man  of  good  under¬ 
standing. 

The  uncle  of  my  friend  Cowen,  one  of  the  first  settlers 
in  Kentucky,  during  the  Indian  war,  met  a  hostile  Indian 
in  the  woods:  both  had  rifles,  and  fired  at  each  other  at 
the  same  moment,  but  both  missed.  It  was  a  war  of  ex¬ 
termination.  The  red  man  then  threw  his  fearful  toma¬ 
hawk,  which  also  missed.  They  then  came  to  close  quar¬ 
ters,  rolling  over  each  other,  and  struggling  for  the  Indian’s 
huge  hog-knife,  which  had  grazed  along  the  throat  of 
Mr.  Cowen’s  uncle,  who  at  length  got  the  knife,  thrust  it 
into  the  belly  of  his  antagonist,  and  leaving  it  in  up  to  its 
hilt,  set  off  to  the  fort  for  a  party  to  despatch  the  dying 


1818-1819]  Faux  s  Journal  185 

warrior.  To  have  fled  from  a  pursuing  enemy,  like  him, 
would  have  been  certain  death,  so  swift  [187]  and  sure- 
scented  are  they  to  track  and  find  a  white  man. 

Three  months  since,  a  duel  was  agreed  on  in  Lexington 
city,  K.  Y.  The  party  challenged  begged  and  obtained 
three  months’  time,  for  “settling  his  worldly  affairs,  and 
making  his  peace  with  God.”  But  as  the  party  so  chal¬ 
lenged  has  the  liberty  of  choosing  weapons,  and  mode  of 
fighting,  he  fixed  on  muskets  charged  with  grape-shot  and 
two  balls;  the  distance  to  be  five  paces.  The  pert  brag¬ 
gadocio,  who  had  sent  the  challenge,  and  whom  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  wished  to  see  killed,  refused  the  mode  and  terms 
thus  offered,  and  so  this  affair  of  honour  ended.  The 
barbarous  baseness  and  cruelty  of  public  opinion,  dooms 
young  men,  when  challenged,  to  fight.  They  must  fight, 
kill  or  be  killed,  and  that  for  some  petty  offence  beneath 
the  notice  of  the  law.  Established  names  only  (says  Mr. 
Cowen)  may  refuse  to  fight,  but  that  is  rarely  done;  to 
refuse  is  a  stain  and  high  dishonour. 

I  now  pass  many  farm  log-houses  along  the  road;  mis¬ 
erable  holes,  having  one  room  only,  and  in  that  one  miser¬ 
able  room,  all  cook,  eat,  sleep,  breed,  and  die,  males  and 
females,  all  together.  When  I  see  and  know  more,  I 
will  describe  a  log-house  minutely. 

We  passed  through  pleasant  Maisville,54  in  Kentucky, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  which  we  had  first  to  cross  on  a 
large  team-boat,  worked  by  [188]  eight  horses,  on  to  which 
we  drove,  stage  and  all,  without  quitting  the  stage.  We 
have  now  travelled  220  miles  from  the  last  crossing  of 
this  noble  river,  which  here  runs  through  and  waters  a 
valley  of  fine  orchards  and  plantations  of  unequalled  fer- 

14  For  the  early  history  of  Maysville,  see  A.  Michaux’s  Travels,  volume  iii 
of  our  series,  note  23. —  Ed. 


1 86 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


tility;  river-bottom  land,  just  such  as  must  fascinate  a 
Lincolnshire  farmer,  who  seeks  for  pleasure  and  profit 
united.  Here  I  lost  my  gay,  graceful,  jovial  fellow-trav¬ 
eller,  who,  tired  of  his  journey,  wanted  to  luxuriate  awhile 
in  all-accommodating  Maisville.  At  six  o’clock,  p.  m., 
we  stopped  to  rest,  sup,  and  sleep,  at  Washington,  K.  Y.,55 
having  a  population  of  1,000  souls,  but  little  or  no  good 
land  to  sell,  by  forced  or  other  sales  yet.  It  is  generally 
cleared  and  enclosed,  and  worth,  with  all  improvements, 
from  40  to  50  dollars  an  acre,  in  a  fine  country. 

This  is  the  third  or  fourth  town  of  Washington  which  I 
have  passed  since  I  quitted  the  metropolis  of  Uncle  Sam. 

20 th. —  Welcomed  to  breakfast  fifteen  miles  from  Wash¬ 
ington,  by  a  sensible,  shrewd,  old  rustic  landlord,  and 
farmer,  who  knows  of  little  or  no  land  to  sell,  by  forced 
sales  yet;  the  improved  value  is  from  30  to  40  dollars  an 
acre.  He  has  hitherto  been  always  able  to  sell  produce 
at  some  price.  The  only  market  is  Orleans,  which 
is  attended  with  difficulty,  some  expense,  and  much  risk 
of  health,  and  loss  of  time,  as  some  one  or  two  of  the 
farmers  must  go  with  the  produce. 

[189]  Here  was  on  a  sick  bed  a  stranger  farmer,  out  of 
funds,  returning  from  New  Orleans  and  Natches,  on  foot. 
In  the  dismal  swamps  of  the  Mississipi,  he  caught  the 
bilious  fever,  and  then  the  jaundice  and  ague.  “I  left,” 
said  he,  “the  folks  of  the  two  latter  cities,  dying  faster 
than  graves  could  be  dug  to  receive  them.  No  papers 
have  been  received  from  either  city  for  some  weeks  past. 
The  printing-offices  and  presses,  it  is  supposed,  are 
stopped,  because  the  cities  are  deserted.  No  animal  food 
is  allowed  to  be  brought  in  or  sold.”  This  sick  moneyless 

55  A  brief  account  of  Washington  may  be  found  in  F.  A.  Michaux’s  Travels 
volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  37. —  Ed. 


i8i8-i  819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


1 87 


stranger  is,  it  appears,  on  his  way  back  to  Chilicothe,  and 
is  very  humanely  sent  on  by  the  stage,  free  of  all  expense, 
and  is  received  and  fed  at  every  tavern  with  gratuitous 
kindness.  Even  my  driver  gave  him,  this  day,  a  dollar. 
This  humanity  and  hospitality  seem  national  in  the  west. 

I  rode  over  an  extent  of  hills,  20  miles,  so  flinty  and 
barren,  that  the  plough  never  could  and  never  will  touch 
it.  The  hogs  that  grunt  and  roam  over  it  look  lean, 
hungry,  and  starved.  The  few  inhabitants  live  by  hunt¬ 
ing  and  shooting  squirrels  and  good  wild  ducks.  I  saw 
a  fresh-water  turtle  on  the  edge  of  the  creek.  On  these 
stony,  flinty  hills,  the  first  settlers  of  Kentucky  fell,  being 
most  of  them  destroyed  by  battling  with  the  Indians,  who 
considered  themselves  invaded.56  They  fired  from  am¬ 
bushes.  The  bones  of  the  unfortunate  Kentuckyans  still 
remain  above  ground,  bleaching  [190]  in  considerable 
numbers,  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  hollow  of  the  mountains, 
into  which  their  bodies  were  thrown  in  heaps,  for  want  of 
earth  and  industry  to  bury  them. 

Wheat,  in  this  state,  is  fine  in  quality,  and  in  quantity 
averaging  about  25  bushels  an  acre;  but  where  the  land 
is  fallowed,  from  40  to  50  are  frequently  had.  Fallow 
means  corn  land,  or  land  planted  first  with  Indian  corn, 
then  with  oats  the  second  year,  and  with  wheat  the  next, 
which  is  generally  more  abundant  than  when  sown  imme¬ 
diately  after,  or  amongst  the  corn  at  the  last  horse-hoeing ; 
for  the  land  gets  a  good  ploughing  for  the  oats,  and  another 
for  the  wheat.  What  a  curious  idea  of  fallowing  does 
this  seem  to  an  English  farmer,  who  knows  of  no  fallow, 
positively  so,  except  a  naked  fallow ! 

After  passing  the  hills  of  stone  and  human  bones,  all 

58  For  the  Blue  Licks  battlefield,  see  Cuming’s  Tour ,  volume  iv  of  our  series, 
notes  1 1 7,  120. —  Ed. 


1 88 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


the  land,  which  conducts  to  the  city  of  Lexington,  is  rich, 
cultivated,  cleared,  and  well  settled  or  located;  and,  with 
the  exception  of  wooden  worm  fences,  looks  much  like 
the  best  districts  of  Old  England,  only  that  the  soil  of 
Kentucky  is  better.  Here  are  fair  green  pastures  for 
cattle,  and  could  green  hawthorn  fences  be  by  magic 
thrown  around  them,  while  I  slept  an  hour,  I  should,  on 
awaking,  fancy  myself  in  Leicestershire.  At  five  this 
evening  I  entered  the  city,  the  far-famed  metropolis  of 
old  Kentucky 

21st. —  Rambled  through  and  round  the  city  of  [191] 
Lexington,  seated  in  the  fairest,  richest  plain  of  Ken¬ 
tucky.  None  of  the  streets  are  yet  filled  up;  the  outline, 
is  large,  and  resembling  Philadelphia,  particularly  in  the 
form  and  construction  of  the  market,  which  is  built  over 
a  small  rivulet,  now  quite  dry,  and  concealed  by  the  mar¬ 
ket,  sheds,  and  structures.  Unfortunately  for  this  city 
there  is  no  navigable  river  nearer  than  the  Kentucky  river, 
ten  miles  distant,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Ohio. 
Every  edifice,  saving  the  college,  a  beautiful  building,58 
seems  filthy,  neglected,  and  in  ruins,  particularly  the 
court-house,  the  temple  of  justice,  in  the  best  square, 
which,  with  its  broken  windows,  rotten  window-frames, 
rotten  broken  doors,  all  ruined  and  spoiled  for  lack  of 
paint  and  a  nail,  looks  like  an  old  abandoned  bagnio,  not 
fit  to  be  compared  with  any  workhouse  in  England.  This 
city,  it  is  here  said,  is  retrograding,  but  in  it  are  many  com¬ 
fortable  abodes,  and  the  best  society  of  Kentucky. 

Called  at  the  seat  of  Squire  Lidiard,  a  rich  English 

57  For  an  account  of  the  founding  of  Lexington,  see  A.  Michaux’s  Travels , 
volume  iii  of  our  series,  note  28. —  Ed. 

58  Consult  Cuming’s  Tour ,  in  our  volume  iv,  note  126,  concerning  the  early 
history  of  Transylvania  University. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


189 


emigrant,  who  with  his  lady  and  two  elegant  daughters, 
came  to  this  western  country  and  city  in  consequence  of 
having  read  and  credited  Birkbeck’s  notes  and  letters, 
and  having  known  and  visited  the  Flower  family  in  Eng¬ 
land.  Mr.  Lidiard  was  well  known  on  ’Change;  had  a 
counting-house  in  London,  and  a  house  at  Blackheath. 
When  I  first  called  upon  him,  he  was  from  home.  I  left 
a  message  for  him,  saying,  that  an  old  countryman,  [192] 
known  to  his  friend  Wardour  of  Philadelphia,  had  called, 
and  was  at  the  stage-house.  On  his  return  home  to  dinner 
he  soon  came  down  to  me  and  said  I  should  accompany 
him  to  pot-luck.  I  did  so.  The  sight  of  an  English  face 
was  mutually  refreshing,  and  a  sufficient  introduction 
to  each  other.  Mr.  Lidiard  scarcely  knows  what  induced 
him  to  emigrate,  having  a  fortune  enabling  himself  and 
family  to  live  in  ease  any  where.  ‘  ‘One  thing,  however, 
which  weighed  with  me,  was  the  probability  of  seeing  my 
children  well  married  in  America.  I  must,  however,  com¬ 
plain  much  of  American  roguery.  Hardly  any  body  cares 
about  poor  honesty  and  punctuality.  If  a  man  can,  or 
is  disposed  to  pay,  he  pays;  if  not  so  disposed,  or  not  able, 
he  smiles,  and  tells  you  to  your  face,  he  shall  not  pay.  I 
saw  an  execution  defeated  lately  by  that  boasted  spirit, 
which  they  call  liberty,  or  independence.  The  property, 
under  execution,  was  put  up  to  sale,  when  the  eldest  son 
appeared  with  a  huge  Herculean  club,  and  said,  “Gen¬ 
tlemen,  you  may  bid  for  and  buy  these  bricks  and  things, 
which  were  my  father’s,  but,  by  God,  no  man  living  shall 
come  on  to  this  ground  with  horse  and  cart  to  fetch  them 
away.  The  land  is  mine,  and  if  the  buyer  takes  any  thing 
away,  it  shall  be  on  his  back.”  The  father  had  transferred 
the  land,  and  all  on  it,  to  the  son,  in  order  to  cheat  the  law. 
Nobody  was,  therefore,  found  to  bid  or  buy.  I,  there- 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


1 90 


fore,”  continues  Mr.  L.,  “decline  all  transactions  [193] 
with  Americans,  it  being  impossible  with  safety  to  buy  or 
sell  any  thing  of  importance  under  their  present  paper 
system.  I  keep  my  money  in  the  funds.  Housekeeping 
is  very  cheap;  ioolbs.  of  fine  flour  costs  only  two  dollars; 
a  fine  fat  sheep,  two  dollars;  beef  equally  cheap,  three  or 
four  cents,  two-pence  per  pound,  the  hide  and  tallow  being 
thought  the  most  valuable;  one  dozen  of  fat  fowls  from 
three  quarters  to  one  dollar.  Land  here  gives  a  man  no 
importance;  store-keepers  and  clerks  rank  much  above 
farmers,  who  are  never  seen  in  genteel  parties  and  circles. 
Yet,  here  is  the  finest  arable  and  pasture  land  in  the  known 
world,  on  which  grass,  the  most  luxuriant,  is  seen  rotting 
for  want  of  cattle.  Just  kill  a  few  of  the  large  trees  (where 
there  is  no  underwood)  and  you  have  a  beautiful  clover- 
field  and  other  grass  intermixed,  as  ever  art  elsewhere 
produced.  There  is  no  laying  down  here;  it  is  all  done 
by  nature  as  if  by  magic.  The  land  is  full  of  all  useful 
grass  seeds,  which  only  want  sun  and  air  to  call  them  into 
a  smothering  superabundance.  But  what  is  land,  however 
rich,  without  population  to  cultivate  it  or  a  market  to 
consume  its  produce,  which  is  here  bought  much  under 
what  either  I  or  you  could  raise  it  for.  Farmers  are  con¬ 
sequently  men  of  no  importance.  They  live,  it  is  true, 
and  will  always  live,  but  I  much  doubt  if  ever  the  impor¬ 
tant  English  farmer  could  be  satisfied  with  such  living  and 
farming.  I  feel  great  [194]  difficulty  in  advising  any 
friends  on  the  subject  of  emigration.  I  mean  to  wait  two 
years  longer  before  I  do  it.  Liberty  and  independence, 
of  which  you  and  I  thought  so  much  and  so  highly,  while 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  sink  and  fade  in  value 
on  a  nearer  view.  Nobody  here  properly  appreciates, 
but  almost  all  abuse,  this  boasted  liberty.  Liberty  here 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


I9I 


means  to  do  each  as  he  pleases;  to  care  for  nothing  and 
nobody,  and  cheat  every  body.  If  I  buy  an  estate,  and 
advance  money  before  I  get  a  title,  it  is  ten  to  one  but  I 
lose  it,  and  never  get  a  title  that  is  worth  having.  My 
garden  cost  me,  this  summer  only,  50  dollars,  and  all  the 
produce  was  stolen  by  boys  and  young  men,  who  pro¬ 
fessed  to  think  they  had  the  liberty  to  do  so.  If  you  com¬ 
plain  to  their  friends  and  superiors,  the  answer  is,  ‘Oh, 
it  is  only  a  boyish  trick,  not  worth  notice.’  And  again,  I 
tell  the  gentlemen,  that  if  I  wished  to  be  social  and  get 
drunk  with  them,  I  dare  not;  for  they  would  take  the 
liberty  to  scratch  me  like  a  tiger,  and  gouge,  and  dirk  me. 
I  cannot  part  with  my  nose  and  eyes.  The  friendly  equal¬ 
ity  and  intercourse,  however,  which  can  be  had  with  all 
ranks  and  grades,  and  the  impossibility  of  coming  to  abso¬ 
lute  poverty,  are  the  finest  features  of  this  country.  You 
are  going  to  Birkbeck’ s  settlement?”  “I  am,  sir.”  “I 
visited  both  Birkbeck  and  Flower  in  June  last.  Birk- 
beck  is  a  fine  man,  in  a  bad  cause.  He  was  worth  about 
to, 000 1.  sterling,  but  has  deceived  himself  and  others.  [195] 
Both  his,  and  Flower’s  settlement  (which  are  all  one),  is 
all  a  humbug.  They  are  all  in  the  mire  and  cannot  get 
out ;  and  they,  therefore,  by  all  manner  of  means  and  arts, 
endeavour  to  make  the  best  of  it.  Birkbeck  tells  me,  the 
reason  why  he  does  not  cultivate  his  land  is,  because  he 
can  buy  produce  cheaper  at  Harmony,59  much  cheaper 
than  he  can  raise  it,  although  its  price  is  double  what  I 
am  giving  at  Lexington  market.  The  Harmonites  all 
work,  and  pay  nothing  for  labour.  Mr.  Birkbeck,  in 
June  last,  was  the  proprietor  of  10,000  acres,  and  for¬ 
feited  his  first  deposit,  ten  cents  an  acre,  on  30,000  acres, 

59  For  a  brief  sketch  of  New  Harmony,  see  Hulme’s  Journal,  volume  x  of 
our  series,  note  22. —  Ed. 


192 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


which  prove  to  be,  as  is  his  settlement  generally,  the  worst 
land  in  Illinois.  Nobody  now  cares  to  buy  of,  or  settle 
down,  with  either  him  or  Flower.  I  like  Flower  the  least ; 
I  would  prefer  Birkbeck  for  a  neighbour,  dressed  up,  as 
he  is,  in  a  little  mean  chip  hat,  and  coarse  domestic  clothes 
from  Harmony,  living  in  a  little  log-house,  smoking 
segars,  and  drinking  bad  whiskey,  just  as  I  found  him, 
rough  as  he  was.  Mr.  G.  Flower  is  inducing  mechanics 
to  come  from  all  parts  to  settle,  although  there  is  no  em¬ 
ployment  for  them,  nor  any  market  now,  nor  in  future, 
at  New  Orleans  or  elsewhere,  for  produce,  unless  a  war 
comes,  which  may  require  America  to  supply  other  nations 
in  want.  Sometimes  I  think  Birkbeck  is  right.  But 
still  I  think  that  both  he  and  Flower  will  get  rid  of 
all  their  dollars,  and  never  raise  more;  dollars  and  they 
will  part  for  ever.  They  [196]  will  live,  but  not  as 
they  did,  and  might  have  lived  in  England  or  in  the 
eastern  states.  Labour  costs  more  than  double  what  it 
does  in  the  east.  The  west  is  fit  only  for  poor  men, 
who  are  the  only  proper  pioneers  of  the  wilderness.  I 
do  not  believe  that  land  will  improve  in  value,  but  that 
much  money  will  be  wasted  in  improvements.  Slavery, 
sir,  is  not  so  bad  as  we  thought  it  to  be,  provided  the  slaves 
are  not  hired  out  like  pack-horses,  but  kept  by  their  own 
proper  owners.  They  would  then  be  gentlemen-servants. 
You  know  that  we  never  prize  a  pack-horse,  nor  treat  it 
so  kindly  as  one  of  our  own.” 

22nd. —  After  breakfast  this  morning  I  visited  the  seat 
and  pleasure-grounds  of  Mr.  Speaker  Clay,60  who  con¬ 
cluded  the  peace  of  Ghent,  now  gone  to  his  chair  in  Con- 

60  Clay’s  country  seat  was  called  Ashland;  there  some  of  his  descendants 
still  reside. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  yournal 


193 


gress.  The  house  is  pleasantly  situated  on  fine  land 
about  two  miles  from  the  city,  but  is  far  inferior  to  the  old 
house  of  my  matrimonial  cousin,  G.  Thompson,  Esq.  of 
Somersham,  Hants.  The  windows  are  broken,  and  the 
frames  and  doors  are  rotten  for  want  of  paint  or  tar;  the 
gardens  in  a  piggish  state,  full  of  weeds,  the  walks  gullied 
by  heavy  rains;  the  grass  borders  and  lawn,  wild,  dirty, 
and  unmown,  and  every  thing  else  inelegant;  although  the 
soil  is  rich  to  excess,  and  almost  all  kinds  of  vegetables 
spring  spontaneously  and  grow  luxuriantly,  and  the  house 
is  brimful  of  negroes,  who  might  keep  all  in  the  neatest 
order.  I  sawT  in  one  enclosure  [197]  near  the  house,  the 
finest  after-grass  and  the  coarsest  hay  in  the  world.  The 
grass  is  so  tough  and  old  before  it  is  mown  that  it  is  little 
better  than  dry  straw  after.  Mr.  Clay  is  the  pride  and 
glory  of  Kentucky,  whose  inhabitants  think  their  state 
monopolizes  talent  and  intelligence.  They  are  gay  and 
voluptuous  to  a  proverb,  and  seem,  it  is  said,  better  abroad 
than  they  are  at  home. 

Cheap  living. —  Visited  the  market.  Beef,  best  cuts, 
six  cents  —  common  cuts,  three  cents  per  lb. ;  a  whole  fat 
mutton,  for  two  and  a  half  dollars,  one  hundred  pounds 
weight.  Fowls,  fat,  three  quarters  of  a  dollar  per  dozen. 
Good  nag  horses  fit  for  any  man,  from  80  to  100  dollars. 
No  money  is  now  to  be  had  or  raised  on  mortgage  of  land 
or  houses,  however  good,  nor  from  any  thing  else  but 
negroes;  nothing  but  black  flesh  and  blood  can  command 
money.  A  fine  English  family  from  Lincolnshire  passed 
yesterday  through  this  city  on  their  return  from  Birkbeck’s 
settlement,  with  which  they  seem  quite  disgusted,  and 
fully  satisfied  and  assured  that  it  would  not,  could  not  do. 
They  were  quite  out  of  funds,  pennyless  strangers  in  a 


i94 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


strange  land;  but  they  were  able  to  borrow  some  money 
from  the  United  States’  branch  bank  to  enable  them  to 
proceed  on  to  Philadelphia. 

2 yd. —  At  nine  this  morning  I  left  the  city  of  the  plains, 
which  will  continue  to  flourish  when  other  cities  fade  and 
die.  It  has  now  a  population  [198]  of  6,000  white  souls. 
How  many  blacks  I  know  not. 

At  three,  p.  m.,  I  ended  this  day’s  journey  at  Frankfort, 
the  seat  of  government,  and  metropolis  of  Old  Kentucky. 
This  pleasant  town  stands  in  a  fine  valley,  roomy  enough 
to  contain  it,  and  but  little  to  spare.  Nature  has  fortified 
and  shut  it  in  with  inaccessible  rocks  and  hills  all  around, 
but  the  rocks  are  neither  rough  nor  broken.  The  town 
boasts  a  good  state,  or  parliament  house,  and  prison,  and 
a  church  or  two,  and  altogether  displays  more  taste  and 
cleanliness  than  Lexington  city.  It  is  seated  on  the  Ken¬ 
tucky  river,  navigable  to  the  Ohio,  and  has  the  best  inn 
or  tavern  which  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  state.  Here  is  all 
the  accommodation  I  need.  The  rocks  and  hills,  which 
now  hang  over  me,  seem  as  perpendicular  as  walls  in 
some  parts,  and  as  though  they  were  formed  by  art.  I 
ought  to  mention  passing  through  two  neat  and  interest¬ 
ing  baby  towns,  called  Paris- town  and  George-town.61 
The  land  hereabouts,  though  there  are  few  forced  sales, 
is  selling  at  one  quarter  its  former  price  and  value. 

Sunday ,  24^. —  I  left  pleasant  Frankfort  at  nine,  a.  m., 
and  reached  Shelby ville  at  four,  p.  m.,  a  good-looking, 

61  For  the  early  history  of  Frankfort  and  Paris,  see  volume  iii  of  our  series: 
F.  A.  Michaux’s  Travels,  note  39;  A.  Michaux’s  Travels,  note  29. 

Georgetown  is  seventeen  miles  east  of  Frankfort.  When  first  settled  (1775) 
it  was  called  McClelland’s  Station.  In  1790  it  was  incorporated  by  the  legisla¬ 
ture  of  Virginia  and  the  present  name  bestowed  upon  it  in  honor  of  George  Wash¬ 
ington. —  Ed. 


1818-1819! 


Faux's  Journal 


l95 


youthful  town,  so  named  in  honor  of  the  governor  of  Ken¬ 
tucky.  62 

General  Jackson,  (says  my  intelligent  fellow  traveller) 
although  thought  to  be  irritable  and  quarrelsome,  is  one 
of  the  warmest  of  friends  and  [199]  neighbours,  and  to 
visitors  most  frank,  generous,  and  hospitable.  During 
his  late  eastern  visits,  his  conduct  to  all  persons  and  parties 
was  kind  and  conciliating,  insomuch  that  those  who  once 
thought  they  hated  the  warrior  despot,  were  compelled  to 
love  the  man.  If  private  humble  citizens  invited  the 
General  to  dinner,  he  invariably  went  there  in  preference 
to  a  public  dinner.  He  is  of  unalterable  determination, 
but  very  slow,  thoughtful,  and  cautious  in  coming  to  it. 
His  manners  are  mild,  simple,  and  plain.  He  lives  in  an 
old  log-house,  which,  though  another  and  better  house  is 
building,  he  determines  on  never  quitting  but  for  the 
grave.63  “I  cannot,”  (says  the  hero  of  the  wilderness) 
“I  cannot  desert  an  old  friend.” 

During  the  last  conversation,  I  passed  in  the  forest  the 
lone  grave  of  an  unfortunate  stranger  and  traveller.  A 
ridge  of  logs  or  trees  was  laid  over  it  to  mark  the  spot 
where  he  died  and  was  buried.  He  was  found  dead  with 
a  gold  watch  in  his  pocket,  and  his  horse  grazing  at  a  short 
distance  from  him;  both  horse  and  rider  were  of  elegant  ap¬ 
pearance.  He  had  been  robbed  of  3,000  dollars,  and  from 
some  unknown  hand  had  received  a  rifle  ball,  which  en¬ 
tered  the  back  of  his  head  and  came  through  and  out 
between  his  eyes;  he  evidently  never  saw  the  hand  which 

62  For  a  brief  account  of  Governor  Shelby  and  Shelby ville,  see  A.  Michaux’s 
Travels,  in  our  volume  iii,  note  35. —  Ed. 

63  Jackson’s  two-story  brick  house  at  the  “Hermitage”  was  built  in  1819. 
It  was  situated  on  the  Cumberland  River,  eleven  miles  from  Nashville. —  Ed. 


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[Vol.  n 


fired,  nor  felt  the  ball.  A  fellow  living  near,  who  was 
seen  to  follow  the  traveller  with  a  rifle,  was  suspected, 
apprehended,  and  tried  for  the  murder,  but  as  nothing, 
[200]  save  circumstantial  evidence,  could  be  produced 
against  him,  (which,  however  strong,  will  not  convict  here) 
he  was  acquitted.  Public  opinion,  however,  condemned 
him,  and  unmercifully  pulled  down  his  house  about  his 
ears,  which  we  passed  in  ruins;  and  he  accordingly  fled, 
blackened  and  blasted,  to  another  distant  refuge  in  the 
wilderness. 

I  saw  this  day  a  party  at  cricket,  and  one  man  in  a  barn 
threshing  with  a  flail,  an  odd  sight  here.  Yesterday  a 
gentleman,  drunk,  in  the  stage,  drew  his  dirk,  the  common 
appendage  of  a  Kentuckian.  He  had  the  stage  stopped, 
jumped  out  and  fought  the  other  passengers,  myself  ex¬ 
cepted.  They  dressed  him  soundly,  disarmed  him,  and 
with  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  screaming  ladies,  left 
him  behind,  on  the  road,  to  fight  with  and  spit  fire  at  the 
trees. 

25 th. —  A  fine  fat  buck  crossed  our  road  this  morning, 
the  first  I  had  yet  seen.  In  the  evening  I  reached  flourish¬ 
ing  Louisville,64  a  grand  river-town  and  port  of  Kentucky, 
on  the  banks  of  and  opposite  the  big  rocky  falls  of  the 
Ohio,  here  a  mile  broad ;  700  miles  by  water  and  360  miles 
by  land  from  Wheeling,  Virginia;  and  about  midway  be¬ 
tween  Washington  city  and  New  Orleans.  The  land  here, 
and  all  round  this  town,  and  in  the  valley,  to  Shelbyville, 
is  excessively  rich  and  the  finest  in  the  state,  but  I  fear  is 
sickly  to  its  inhabitants.  Louisville  must  become  a  place 
of  high  [201]  importance,  if  pestilence  prevent  not.  Our 
hotel,  called  Union-hall,  is  very  capacious  and  full  of 

64  For  the  early  history  of  Louisville,  see  Croghan’s  Journals ,  volume  i  of 
our  series,  note  106. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


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197 


company,  composed  of  polished  military  and  mercantile 
gentlemen  of  New  Orleans,  many  of  whom  are  waiting  for 
the  troubling  or  rising  of  the  waters,  and  consequent 
movement  of  the  steam-boats.  Board  here,  with  five  in 
a  bed-room,  is  two  and  a  quarter  dollars  per  day,  a  shame¬ 
ful  piece  of  extortion,  when  it  is  remembered  that  provis¬ 
ions  of  all  kinds  here,  cost  a  mere  trifle;  yet  in  the  hall, 
an  immense  dining-table  seems  crowded  with  good  com¬ 
pany.  Notices,  however,  are  posted  in  several  rooms, 
by  the  landlord,  stating,  that  unless  gentlemen-boarders 
pay  up,  further  credit  will  be  discontinued. 

26 th. —  I  rode  in  a  hackney  coach  to  Shipping-port,65  a 
sort  of  hamlet  of  Louisville,  standing  on  the  margin  of  the 
river,  opposite  to  a  flourishing  new  town  on  the  other  side, 
called  Albion,  in  Indiana.66  Counted  from  twelve  to  six¬ 
teen  elegant  steam-boats  aground,  waiting  for  water. 
Boarded  and  examined  the  Post-boy ,  which  cost  50,000 
dollars,  and  is  intended  only  for  passengers  up  and  down 
the  Ohio  and  Mississipi  waters,  containing  fifty  births  or 
beds,  a  separate  dining-room,  a  ladies’  room,  and  state 
room,  with  a  fine  promenade  at  top,  having  three  decks, 
with  all  necessary  and  elegant  appurtenances.  The  boat 
called  the  United  States ,  is  much  superior  to  the  Post-boy, 
being  of  700  tons  burthen,  a  complete  [202]  floating  hotel, 
little  less  than  the  London  Tavern.  The  passage  down 
from  hence  to  Orleans  is  75  dollars,  a  price  which  compe¬ 
tition,  and  the  unnecessary  number  of  boats  built,  will 
greatly  reduce.  Entered  and  dined  at  a  low  (but  the  best) 
tavern  in  Shipping-port,  intending,  if  I  liked  it,  to  board 

66  A  brief  account  of  Shippingsport  maybe  found  in  Cuming’s  Tour,  volume 
iv  of  our  series,  note  171. —  Ed. 

66  This  was  New  Albany.  For  its  early  history,  see  Hulme’s  Journal  in  our 
volume  x,  note  15. —  Ed. 


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[Vol.  ir 


and  wait  here  for  the  troubling  of  the  waters;  but  owing  to 
the  meanness  of  the  company  and  provisions,  I  soon  left, 
and  returned  to  head-quarters  at  Louisville.  The  traveller, 
who  must  necessarily  often  mix  with  the  very  dregs  of 
society  in  this  country,  should  be  prepared  with  plain 
clothes,  or  the  dress  of  a  mechanic ;  a  gentlemanly  appear¬ 
ance  only  exciting  unfriendly  or  curious  feelings,  which 
defeat  his  object,  and  make  his  superiority  painful. 

The  American,  considered  as  an  animal,  is  filthy,  border¬ 
ing  on  the  beastly;  as  a  man,  he  seems  a  being  of  superior 
capabilities;  his  attention  to  his  teeth,  which  are  generally 
very  white,  is  a  fine  exception  to  his  general  habits.  All 
his  vices  and  imperfections  seem  natural;  those  of  the 
semi-barbarian.  He  is  ashamed  of  none  of  them.  La¬ 
bourers  and  mechanics  are  here  rather  scarce,  although 
so  many  are  said  to  have  returned  home  to  England  from 
New  York;  the  former  receive  one  and  a  half  dollars  to 
two  dollars  a  day,  and  the  latter,  two  and  a  half  dollars, 
with  provisions  very  cheap.  Emigrants,  of  this  descrip¬ 
tion,  should  never  linger  about  eastern  cities,  and  suppose 
[203]  that,  because  there  is  no  employment  there,  none  is 
to  be  found  in  America. 

The  new  steam-ship,  now  at  New  York,  cost  120,000 
dollars,  is  intended  only  for  passengers,  and  to  run  from 
New  York  to  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  New  Orleans, 
twelve  times  a-year,  taking,  in  the  year,  5,000  passengers, 
at  200  dollars  each,  the  voyage.  The  steam-boat,  Vesu¬ 
vius ,  from  New  Orleans  to  Louisville,  freighted,  in  one 
trip,  47,000  dollars,  and  cleared  half,  that  is  23,500  dollars 
net  profit.  Sixty  or  seventy  of  these  fine  boats  are  now 
on  the  Ohio  and  Mississipi  rivers. 

27 th.  —  At  sun-rise  I  left  Louisville,  in  Colonel  John¬ 
son’s  carriage  and  pair,  for  Vincennes,  in  Indiana,  well 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


l99  • 


pleased  to  turn  my  back  on  all  the  spitting,  gouging,  dirk¬ 
ing,  duelling,  swearing,  and  staring,  of  old  Kentucky. 

I  crossed  the  Ohio  at  Portland,  and  landed  at  New 
Albion,  a  young  rising  village,  to  breakfast,  where,  for  the 
first  time  in  America,  I  found  fine,  sweet,  white,  home- 
baked  bread.  The  staff  of  life  is  generally  sour,  and, 
though  light  and  spongy,  very  ill-flavoured,  either  from  bad 
leaven,  or  the  flour  sweating  and  turning  sour  in  the  barrel. 

At  eleven,  a.  m.,  I  rested,  and  baited  at  a  farm  log 
house,  having  one  room  only;  the  farmer  came  to  it  ten 
years  ago,  and  has  settled  on  two  quarter  sections  of  land. 
He  has  a  good  horse-mill  at  work,  night  and  day,  to  which 
people  come  with  [204]  grist,  from  10  to  15  miles,  working 
it  with  their  own  horses,  four  in  number,  and  leaving  him 
(the  miller)  an  eighth  for  his  toll.  “My  land”  (says  he) 
“is  good,  but  not  like  that  of  old  Ken  tuck.  I  get  from 
40  to  60  bushels  of  corn,  and  wheat,  25  to  30  bushels  per 
acre,  and  a  market  at  my  door,  in  supplying  gentlemen- 
travellers,  and  emigrants.”  The  first  house  is,  for  five  or 
six  years,  a  miserable  hole,  with  one  room  only,  after 
which,  rises  a  better,  and  the  old  one  remains  for  a  kitchen. 
This  man  seems  full  of  money,  and  knows  all  things;  he 
damns  the  state  government  for  denying  him  the  privilege 
of  slavery,  and  of  using  his  Kentucky  negroes,  who,  in 
consequence,  (he  says)  are  hired  and  exposed  to  cruelty. 
‘  T  was  raised  under  a  monarchy  government,  in  Virginia, 
where  every  man  did  as  he  pleased.  This  Indiana  a  free 
state,  and  yet  not  at  liberty  to  use  its  own  property !  You 
tell  me  to  quit  it,  I  guess,  if  I  do  not  like  it.”  £  ‘Yes,  I  do.” 
“Well  then,  the  government,  d — n  it,  has  the  power,  it 
seems,  to  drive  me  out.”  This  strange  man  was  very  civil 
and  coarsely  kind  to  me,  and  whispered  aside  to  my  driver, 
that  he  knew  I  was  a  very  large  proprietor  in  this  state. 


200 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


I  travelled  till  sun-set,  32  miles  from  the  Ohio,  and  slept 
at  Mrs.  Moore’s  farm-log-house  tavern,  with  three  rooms, 
and  a  broken  window  in  each;  all  moderately  comfortable, 
until  the  pitiless,  pelting  storms  of  winter  come,  when  it 
will  snow  and  [205]  blow  upon  the  beds.  My  hostess 
would,  in  England,  pass  for  a  witch,  having  a  singularly 
long,  yellow,  haggish,  dirty,  face  and  complexion.  She 
has  three  fine  sons,  but  no  servants.  They  do  all  the 
household  work,  and  that  on  the  farm,  themselves,  hiring 
none.  They  clear  five  or  six  acres  every  year,  have  cleared 
60  acres,  and  mean  that  the  other  60  of  their  quarter  sec¬ 
tion  should  remain  in  wood.  They  located  themselves 
here  eight  years  since,  and  find  good  land,  good  crops,  and 
a  market  at  the  door.  Two  of  the  young  Moores  mounted 
their  horses,  and,  with  five  dogs,  set  off  hunting  at  bed¬ 
time,  until  midnight,  after  racoons,  foxes,  wolves,  bears, 
and  wild  cats.  I  saw  a  skin  of  the  latter  animal,  much 
like  a  tame  cat,  only  bigger,  and  its  tail  shorter;  they  live 
on  partridges  and  young  pigs,  and  poultry  when  they  can 
get  them;  they  never  mew  and  call  out  like  the  domestic 
cat.  Here  is  a  pet  bear,  which  took  an  ear  of  Indian  corn 
out  of  my  hand.  One  of  these  pets  recently  broke  its 
chain,  and  came  into  the  house,  where  lay  a  sick  and  bed¬ 
ridden  man,  and  an  infant  child  on  the  floor,  with  which 
the  bear,  much  pleased,  marched  off.  The  poor  old  man, 
not  knowing,  till  then,  that  he  was  able  to  turn  himself  in 
bed,  suddenly  acquired  supernatural  strength,  sprung  out, 
and  running  after  the  bear,  threw  him  down,  rescued  the 
screaming  babe,  unhugged  and  unhurt,  and  then  jumped 
into  bed  again. 

[206]  2 8th. —  Now  quite  out  of  society;  every  thing  and 
every  body,  with  some  few  exceptions,  looks  wild,  and  half 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


201 


savage.  To  his  honor  Judge  Chambers’s,  to  breakfast.67 
His  log-tavern  is  comfortable;  he  farms  two  and  a  half 
quarter  sections,  and  raises  from  40  to  60  bushels  of  corn 
an  acre.  Nearly  all  the  good  land  on  this  road  is  entered. 
“I  had,”  says  he,  “hard  work  for  the  first  two  or  three 
years.”  The  judge  is  a  smart  man  of  about  40,  and  not 
only  a  judge,  but  a  senator  also,  and  what  is  more,  the 
best  horse- jockey  in  the  state.  He  seems  very  active, 
prudent,  cautious,  and  industrious,  and,  like  all  the  rest 
of  the  people  on  this  road,  kind-hearted.  He  fills  the 
two-fold  station  of  waiter  and  hostler  in  part ;  I  say  in  part, 
for,  as  he  has  no  servant,  the  drudgery  must  be  done  by 
the  traveller  himself,  if  he  have  a  horse  or  horses.  His 
honor  left  my  driver  to  do  all,  and  hastily  rode  off  to  a 
distant  mill  for  his  grist,  now  much  wanted,  and  with 
which  he  returned  in  about  two  hours,  while  her  honor, 
Mrs.  Judge,  and  the  six  Miss  Judges,  prepared  my 
good  breakfast.  These  ladies  do  all  the  work  of  the  house, 
and  some  of  the  field ;  every  thing  seems  comfortable  and 
easy  to  them,  although  the  blue  sky  and  the  broad  sun 
stare  and  peep  through  cracks  and  crevices  in  the  roof  of 
their  house.  While  I  sat  at  breakfast,  his  honor’s  mother, 
a  fine  smart  young  woman  of  four- score,  came  briskly 
riding  up,  and  alighted  at  the  door;  [207]  as  good  a  horse¬ 
woman  as  ever  mounted  a  side-saddle.  She  had  been  to 
pay  a  distant  visit,  and  seemed  as  though  her  strength  and 
youth  were  renewed,  like  the  eagle’s.  She  reminded  me 
of  Moses,  “with  his  eye  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force 
abated.” 

67  For  Judge  Chambers,  see  Hulme’s  Journal,  volume  x  of  our  series,  note 
29.  He  should  not  be  confused  with  Benjamin  Chambers,  judge  of  Dearborn 
County,  Indiana  (1803-1810),  who  was  a  son  of  General  James  Chambers  of 
Pennsylvania. —  Ed. 


202 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


At  noon,  I  stopped  at  another  log-house,  quarter- 
section  farmer’s,  with  two  fine  healthy  boys,  much  civilized, 
who,  of  themselves,  have  cleared  forty  acres  of  heavily 
timbered  land,  such  as  is  seldom  seen,  and  cropped  it 
twice  in  eighteen  months.  What  prodigious  industry! 
It  is,  they  say,  worth  ten  dollars  an  acre  clearing.  It  is; 
and  an  Englishman  would,  indeed,  think  so,  and  demand 
double  and  treble  that  sum,  for  that  quantity  of  excessive 
labour.  They,  however,  now  wish  to  sell  out  their  im¬ 
proved  quarter  section,  and  remove  further  from  the  road. 
These  young  men  drink  spring  water,  and  like  it  better 
than  whiskey,  and  look  heartier  and  healthier  than  any 
settlers  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  wilds. 

I  rested  all  night  at  another  quarter- section  farmer’s, 
who,  together  with  his  brother  and  wife,  has  cleared  thirty 
acres  in  eighteen  months,  without  hired  hands,  and  is  now 
rearing  a  second  log-house.  They  find  a  market  at  their 
door  for  all  they  can  raise,  and  ten  times  as  much,  if  they 
could  raise  it.  They  burn  all  the  logs  and  trees  rolled 
together  in  immense  heaps,  and  prefer  the  wood-land  to 
the  barrens,  the  latter  being  thinly  [208]  timbered  with 
dwarfish  trees  and  shrubs.  The  wife,  husband,  brother, 
and  three  wild  children,  sleep  in  one  room,  together  with 
three  or  four  travellers,  all  on  the  floor,  bedless,  but  wrapt 
up  in  blankets.  I,  being  a  mighty  fine  man,  was  put  into 
the  new  house,  which,  though  without  either  doors  or 
windows,  was  distinguished  by  one  bed  on  a  bedstead, 
both  home-made,  and  as  soft  as  straw  and  wood  could  be. 
Into  this  bed  was  I  honourably  put,  and  at  midnight 
favoured  with  a  bed-fellow,  a  stranger  Yankee  man  whom 
I  had  seen  on  the  mountains;  and  at  my  feet,  on  the  floor, 
slept  two  Irish,  and  one  poor  sick  American,  all  pedes¬ 
trians,  who  had  wandered  here  in  quest  of  employment. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


203 


Thus  housed  and  bedded,  we  were  faithfully  watched  and 
guarded  by  several  huge  hunting  dogs,  lying  around  the 
entrance  of  our  bed-room,  barking  and  growling  to  the 
howling  wolves,  bears,  foxes,  and  wild  cats,  now  roaming 
around,  and  seeming  ready  to  devour  us.  Our  hostess 
hung  on  the  cook-all,  and  gave  us  fowls,  ill-flavoured 
bacon,  and  wild  beef,  all  stewed  down  to  rags  like  hotch¬ 
potch,  together  with  coffee  and  home-made  sugar,  for 
supper  and  breakfast.  All  was  coarse,  wild,  and  ill- 
flavoured. 

29 th. —  At  sunrise  I  passed  two  waggons  and  herds  of 
cattle  and  people,  very  wild-looking  and  Indian-like,  rising 
from  camp,  having  camped  out  all  night  after  the  fashion 
of  English  gypsies.  Stopped  at  a  wretched  cabin,  having 
only  one  [209]  room,  and  that  brimful  of  great  dirty  boys 
and  girls,  all  very  ragged  and  half  naked;  and  again  at 
the  house  of  a  Mr.  Lewis,  from  Virginia,  where  every 
thing  presented  a  fine  contrast;  clean,  healthy,  civilized 
children. 

Breakfasted  at  an  infant  ville,  Hindostan,88  on  the  falls 
of  the  White  River,  a  broad  crystal  stream,  running  navi¬ 
gable  to  the  Ohio,  over  a  bed  of  sand  and  stone,  smooth  and 
white  as  a  floor  of  marble.  This  baby  ville  is  flourishing; 
much  building  is  in  progress,  and  it  promises  to  become  a 
pleasant,  healthy,  large  town,  before  I  see  it  again.  The 
land,  too,  is  rich  and  inviting.  I  now  crossed,  in  my 
chariot,  White  River,  and  in  two  hours  after  stopped  at  a 
quarter-section  farmer’s,  who  has  never  cleared  nor  in¬ 
closed  any  of  his  land,  because  sick  or  idle;  being,  how¬ 
ever,  well  enough  to  hunt  daily,  a  sport  which,  as  he  can  live 

88  The  first  settler  came  to  Hindostan  in  1817  and  some  six  additional  fam¬ 
ilies  arrived  before  the  town  was  platted  (1819).  It  was  chosen  as  the  seat  of 
Martin  County  upon  its  organization  (1820),  but  the  site  proved  so  unhealthful 
that  it  was  abandoned. —  Ed. 


204 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


by  it,  he  likes  better  than  farming;  “and  besides,”  says  he, 

‘  ‘we  had  at  first  so  many  wild  beasts  about  us,  that  we 
could  not  keep  pigs,  poultry,  sheep,  nor  any  thing  else.” 
Called  on  another  quarter-section  man,  sick,  and  who 
therefore  has  done  but  little  himself ;  two  young  boys  have 
cleared  five  or  six  acres.  The  tavern  keeps  them  all;  a 
tavern,  with  one  miserable  hole  of  a  room. 

I  stopped  again  at  a  two  quarter- section  farmer’s,  who 
said ;  “I  am  an  old  man,  and  have  only  my  boys;  we  can¬ 
not  hire,  but  we  do  all  the  labour,  and  get  60  bushels  of 
corn  per  acre,  but  [210]  no  wheat  of  any  consequence  yet. 
We  can  always  sell  all  the  produce  we  raise  from  the  land 
to  travellers  like  you,  and  others,  new  comers.”  “But,” 
said  I,  “what  will  you  do  when  your  said  new  comers 
and  neighbours  have  as  much  to  spare  and  sell  as  you 
have?”  “O,  then  we’ll  give  it  to  cattle  and  pigs,  which 
can  travel  to  a  market  somewhere.  I  see  no  fear  of  a 
market  in  some  shape  or  other.”  This  was  a  shrewd 
old  fellow. 

I  met  and  passed  five  or  six  huge  waggons  laden  with 
goods,  chattels,  and  children,  and  families,  attended  by 
horsemen,  cattle,  and  footmen,  and  many  negroes,  all 
returning  from  the  Missouri  territory  to  their  native  home 
and  state  of  Kentucky,  which  they  had  rashly  left  only 
two  months  since.  Having  sold  out  there  in  good  times 
at  30  dollars  an  acre,  and  being  now  scared  out  of  Missouri 
by  sickness,  they  are  returning  to  repurchase  their  former 
homes  in  Kentucky  at  15  dollars  an  acre;  or  perhaps,  says 
my  informant,  they  may  return  to  the  Missouri,  when  the 
fear  of  sickness  subsides.  They  have  left  their  father  be¬ 
hind,  as  a  pledge  of  returning;  but  still  100  acres  in  Old 
Kentuck  are  worth  300  in  Missouri,  except  in  river- 
bottoms,  that  is,  valleys  of  rivers. 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  Journal 


205 


Passed  another  Washington,69  a  young  county  seat  (or 
town)  and  several  fine  neighbourhoods  of  rich  land,  full 
of  iron-weed,  but  not  so  rank  as  in  Kentucky,  yet  bearing 
plenty  of  huge  sugar- trees.  Every  state  in  this  mighty 
Union  seems  emulous  of  [21 1]  building  towns,  monu¬ 
mental  piles  of  immortality  to  General  Washington. 

Rested  for  the  night  at  a  good  bricked  house  tavern  on 
the  White-river  ferry,  but  without  one  glass  window  in  it. 
It  is  getting  old  and  wearing  out  before  it  is  finished. 
Here  I  found  a  good  supper  of  buck  venison,  fowls,  whis¬ 
key,  and  coffee.  My  hostess,  the  owner,  was  lately  a  rich 
widow,  and  might  have  remained  so,  but  for  a  Yankee 
soldier  with  a  knapsack  at  his  back,  whose  lot  it  was  to 
call  at  her  house.  They  are  now  married,  and  he  is  lord 
of  the  tavern,  land  and  all.  My  host  had  a  large  party 
of  distant  neighbours  assembled  to  effect  a  corn  shucking, 
something  like  an  English  hawkey,  or  harvest  home. 
All,  gentle  and  simple,  here  work  hard  till  eleven  at  night. 
Corn  shucking  means  plucking  the  ears  of  Indian  corn 
from  the  stalk,  and  then  housing  it  in  cribs,  purposely 
made  to  keep  it  in,  for  winter  use.  The  stalk  is  left  in 
the  field;  the  leaves,  while  half  green,  are  stripped  off, 
and  tied  up  in  bundles,  as  hay  for  horses  and  cattle,  and 
good  food  it  is,  much  resembling  in  form  the  flags  in 
English  marshes.  After  I  had  retired  to  bed  the  hawkey 
supper  commenced;  all  seemed  fun,  created  by  omnipotent 
whiskey,  with  which  they  plentifully  supplied  me,  al¬ 
though  in  bed.  “The  Doctor,  the  Squire,  the  Colonel,” 
said  they,  “shall  drink  and  lack  no  good  thing.”  I  was 
consequently  pressed  to  rise  and  join  them,  about  one 

#9  Washington,  situated  on  the  Vincennes-New  Albany  Road  twenty  miles 
from  the  former  place,  was  surveyed  by  a  board  of  county  commissioners  (1817), 
and  made  the  seat  of  Daviess  County.  At  the  date  of  its  incorporation  (1871), 
the  population  was  about  two  thousand. —  Ed. 


206 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


o’clock.  I  refused.  [212]  “Then,”  said  they,  “Doctor, 
you  shall  drink  in  bed.”  My  charioteer  had  foolishly 
called  me  Doctor,  Squire,  Colonel,  and  what  not,  during 
the  whole  of  this  wilderness  journey;  hence,  I  was  here 
applied  to  as  an  eminent  physician. 

30 th. —  Travelled  12  miles  to  breakfast  on  fine  buck 
venison  at  three  farthings  per  pound,  or  one  dollar  for  the 
buck,  at  the  house  of  a  shrewd  old  kind-hearted  Pennsyl¬ 
vanian,  now  nearly  worn  out  and  ready  to  sleep,  either 
with  or  without,  his  fathers.  “I  have,”  says  he,  “lately 
lost  my  son,  and  my  farms  are  running  fast  to  ruin.  I 
have  200  acres,  some  of  which  I  hire  out,  and  I  have  just 
finished  what  my  son  began,  a  good  new  log-house.  This 
Indiana  is  the  best  country  in  the  world  for  young  men. 
Were  I  a  young  man  I  would  live  no  where  else  in  all  the 
universal  world.”  ‘  ‘Although,”  says  he,  ‘  ‘many  hundreds 
of  waggons,  with  droves  of  men  and  beasts,  four  or  five 
hundred  in  a  drove,  and  at  least  5,000  souls  from  Ken¬ 
tucky  have  passed  my  house  since  last  harvest,  all  bound 
for  the  Missouri.” 

At  eleven,  p.  m.,  I  reached  Old  Vincennes,70  the  first 
and  oldest  town  in  this  state,  situated  in  a  fine  woodless 
Prairie  on  the  banks  of  the  big  Wabash,  a  fine  broad, 
clear,  and  generally  deep  stream,  running  to  the  Ohio  by 
Shawneese  town,  but  when  its  waters  are  low,  weeds  rise 
from  the  bottom,  and  grow,  and  rot,  and  impregnate  the 
air  with  pestilence.  On  passing  through  this  place,  a 
farmer  [213]  said  that  last  spring  he  lost  seven  cows,  and 
that  hundreds  were  poisoned  by  some  unknown  herb  found 
growing  in  their  pastures  on  river-bottom  land.  A  medi- 

70  For  the  early  history  of  Vincennes,  see  Croghan’s  Journals ,  volume  i  of 
our  series,  note  113. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


207 


cal  botanist  was  here  much  wanted.  An  immense  quan¬ 
tity  of  land  in  the  neighbouring  state  of  Illinois,  is  here,  I 
see,  posted  up  in  this  town  for  sale  or  lease,  for  a  term  of 
years,  at  one  peck  of  corn  per  acre,  per  annum.  But  who 
will  hire,  when  nearly  all  can  buy?  I  passed  away  my 
20  dollar  note  of  the  rotten  bank  of  Harmony,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  for  five  dollars  only!  so  losing  3/.  7 s.  6 d.  sterling. 
I  was  indebted  five  dollars  to  my  faithful  driver,  who  was 
now  to  leave  me  behind  and  press  on  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 
I  said,  “Now,  driver,  which  will  you  have;  five  silver 
dollars,  or  the  20  dollar  note;  or  what  more  than  your 
demand  will  you  give  for  the  said  note?”  “Nothing.” 
“Then  take  it,  and  bless  banks  and  banking  for  ever.” 
Bank  paper  is  here  an  especial  nuisance,  an  ever  fruitful 
source  of  evil,  and  ever  very  unfriendly  to  honesty,  peace, 
and  good  will  amongst  hosts  and  travellers,  who  meet 
and  part,  cheating  and  cheated,  cursed  and  cursing,  con¬ 
tinually.  My  landlord  here  is  very  obliging,  and  puts 
me  into  the  best  room  and  bed  in  the  Vincennes  hotel, 
where  I  am  sleeping  with  a  sick  traveller  from  St.  Louis, 
who  states  that  many  die  daily,  and  his  doctor  there  had 
150  patients  to  visit  every  day,  or  oftener.  So  much  for 
the  healthiness  of  the  ever-tempting  Missouri. 

[214]  Sunday ,  315/. —  The  town  of  Vincennes  is  more 
than  200  years  old;  older  than  Philadelphia;  but  being  of 
French  origin,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Indians, 
ever  hostile  to  the  inhabitants  and  settlers  round  it,  has 
grown  but  slowly,  and  is  an  antique  lump  of  deformity. 
Although  long  the  capital  and  mother  town  of  the  state, 
it  looks  like  an  old,  worn  out,  dirty  village  of  wooden  frame 
houses,  which  a  fire  might  much  improve,  for  improve¬ 
ment  generally  has  to  travel  through  flames.  Here  is  no 


208 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


church,  save  the  Catholic  church,  the  inhabitants  being 
principally  French  Canadians,  and  the  rest  the  refuse  of 
the  east,  whose  crimes  have  driven  them  hither,  or  dissi¬ 
pated  young  men  unable  to  live  at  home.  Hence  Sunday 
is  only  a  day  of  frolic  and  recreation,  which  commences  on 
the  Saturday  evening,  when  every  preparation  is  devoutly 
made  for  the  Sabbath,  and  off  they  start  in  large  parties 
on  foot  and  on  horseback,  all  riflemen  and  cunning  hunters, 
into  the  deep  recesses  of  the  forest,  camping  out  all  night 
in  readiness  for  sabbath  sacrifices,  the  bucks,  the  bears, 
the  squirrels,  and  the  turkeys,  ready  to  be  offered  up  by 
peep  of  day.  This  holy  day  is  consequently  ushered  in 
by  guns,  which  continue  to  roar  in  and  around  the  town  all 
day  until  sunset.  The  stranger  might  think  it  was  closely 
besieged,  or  that  an  enemy  was  approaching.  The  steam 
flour-mill,  a  large  grinding  establishment  of  extortion, 
giving  only  3olbs.  of  flour  for  one  bushel  of  wheat,  weighing 
[215]  6olbs.  is  in  operation  all  this  day,  and  on  other  days, 
day  and  night,  and  blacksmiths’  shops  are  in  high  bustle, 
blazing,  blowing,  and  hammering  in  direct  opposition  to 
a  law  against  Sunday  business  and  pleasure,  but  which  is 
never  feared,  because  never  enforced.  The  refuse,  rather 
than  the  flower  of  the  east,  seems,  with  some  exceptions, 
to  be  here.  But  still  good  is  coming  out  of  evil.  The  east 
is  thus  disencumbered,  and  the  west  is  peopled.  Posterity 
will  shew  a  better  face.  Such  is  the  process  of  empire. 

I  rambled  round  the  town  to  the  court-house,  or  shire- 
hall,  really  externally  an  elegant  building,  but  decaying 
before  finished,  as  though  the  state  were  unable  to  finish 
what  it  had  so  well  begun  before  counting  the  cost.  The 
State  Seminary,  a  very  respectable  edifice,  but  in  little 
better  plight,  was  built  by  Uncle  Sam ,  and  endowed  with 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


209 


an  ample  township  in  the  state.71  It  is,  however,  only  a 
nominal  seminary,  because  the  trustees  are  not  empowered 
to  sell  any  of  its  land  for  raising  funds,  but  must  derive 
them  from  hiring  and  leasing  it  out  in  farms.  But  while 
plenty  of  uncleared  or  cleared  farms  can  be  bought  at  two 
dollars  an  acre,  who  will  ever  think  of  hiring  ? 

I  saw  two  Indian  graves  on  the  eastern  banks  of  the 
Wabash.  Each  hillock  is  carefully  arched  over  with 
broad  stripes  of  bark,  each  three  feet  wide,  with  logs  and 
sticks,  or  bands  across.  The  bodies  are  buried  from  one 
to  two  feet  deep  only.  [216]  Visited  the  house  of  J. 
Lowndes,  Esq.,  the  prison  philanthropist  and  Howard  of 
America,  but  did  not  see  him.  He  was  gone,  as  an 
Indian  ambassador,  to  the  government  in  Washington 
city  assembled,  and  I  passed  him  unconsciously  on 
Thursday  last,  when  I  saw  and  noted  in  a  hand¬ 
some  chariot,  a  venerable,  gentlemanly,  dignified  coun¬ 
tenance.  It  was  that  of  this  good  and  honourable  man. 
I  presented  his  lady,  once  the  widow  of  the  late  Judge 
Vanderburgh,72  with  my  introductory  letter  to  her  hus- 

71  The  history  of  this  college  is  interesting.  The  first  general  assembly  of 
Indiana  Territory  passed  an  act  (1806),  to  incorporate  a  university  —  “to  be 
called  or  known  by  the  name  or  style  of  the  Vincennes  University.”  It  was  to 
be  supported  by  the  sale  of  land  in  the  seminary  township  reserved  by  Congress, 
and  by  a  lottery  authorized  in  this  act.  In  1810  the  university  opened  with 
Reverend  Samuel  Scott  as  president.  But  from  that  date  it  received  no  aid 
from  the  state,  and  the  trustees  having  allowed  their  organization  to  lapse,  the 
legislature  (1824),  declared  the  institution  extinct.  In  1853  it  was  revived  as 
an  academic  school. —  Ed. 

72  Henry  Vanderburgh  (1760-1812)  was  a  native  of  Troy,  New  York,  and 
a  captain  in  the  2nd  New  York  Regiment  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Re¬ 
moving  to  Vincennes  soon  after  peace  was  declared,  he  was  appointed  by  Gov¬ 
ernor  St.  Clair  (1794),  a  probate  judge  of  Knox  County.  In  1799  President 
Adams  appointed  him  a  member  of  the  legislative  council  for  the  Northwest 
Territory;  and  upon  the  erection  of  Indiana  Territory  (1800),  he  was  made  a 
territorial  judge. —  Ed. 


210 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


band,  which  I  had  brought  from  one  of  my  friends  at 
Washington  city.  She  regretted  the  absence  of  her  spouse, 
and  received  me  graciously.  This  generous  man  is  gone 
a  third  time  to  the  President  on  behalf  of  the  Indian  chiefs 
who  call  him  their  father,  having  appointed  and  chosen 
him  as  the  only  honest  American  whom  they  have  ever 
known;  all  with  whom  they  before  had  dealt  or  treated, 
tricked  them  out  of  their  lands.  Mr.  Lowndes  knows  their 
language,  and  has  a  speech  always  put  into  his  mouth  by 
these  barbarian  grandees.  “Go,”  said  they,  “go,  father, 
and  tell  our  great  father,  the  President,  how  we  are  deviled 
and  cheated,  and  if  he  does  not  do  us  justice,  go,  tell  him 
he  is  a  hog,  and  that  we  would  burn  up  the  land  if  we 
could.”  Mr.  L.  replied,  “that  this  was  an  undutiful 
speech  for  children  to  send  to  their  father;”  but  in  great 
rage  they  rejoined  in  their  own  tongue,  “He  is  only  a 
man.”  The  chiefs,  whom  Mr.  Lowndes  represents,  [217] 
are  of  the  Delaware  tribe,  the  posterity  of  those  from  whom 
William  Penn  so  honourably  bought  Pennsylvania,  and 
who  traditionally  revere  his  memory  down  to  this  day. 

November  1st . —  During  the  last  month  the  weather  has 
been  cold  and  dry,  but  generally  clear  and  without  fogs, 
and  in  the  night  frosty,  shewing  ice  half  an  inch  thick. 
Summer  and  I  parted  on  the  last,  of  September,  at  Wash¬ 
ington  city,  where  she  lingers  until  Christmas.  Late  last 
evening  my  host  returned  from  his  Sunday  hunt,  heavily 
laden  with  his  share  of  the  game,  namely,  two  wild  ducks, 
one  wild  turkey,  seven  squirrels,  and  one  fine  fat  buck  of 
i3olbs.  weight.  Hunting  seems  the  everlasting  delight  of 
this  town.  When  I  went  to  bed  last  night  the  prairie  and 
forest  were  both  enveloped  in  a  wide-spreading,  sky-red¬ 
dening  blaze,  which  the  hunters  had  kindled  to  drive 
out  and  start  the  game. 


1818-1819] 


Faux’s  Journal 


21 1 


I  met  this  morning  Mr.  Baker  of  Philadelphia,  an  in¬ 
telligent  traveller,  who  knows  my  friend  J.  Ingle,  living 
eighty  miles  further  west  of  this  place,  and  who  has  kindly 
borrowed  a  horse  for  me,  and  agrees  to  pilot  me  thither 
to-morrow.  I  saw  a  large  party  of  Miami  Indian  hunters, 73 
accompanied  by  their  ugly  squaws,  all  on  horseback,  and 
all  astride,  with  their  tomahawks  and  frightful  knives 
girdled  round  them,  dressed  in  blankets  and  turbans,  and 
painted  red,  green,  black,  and  white;  every  feature  having 
a  different  shade  of  [218]  colour,  and  all,  save  the  squaws, 
apparently  half  drunk,  having  their  bottle  of  fire-water, 
or  whiskey,  with  them,  which,  after  drinking  from  it  them¬ 
selves,  they  stopped  and  handed  to  me  and  my  friend 
Baker.  We  took  it  and  applied  it  to  our  lips,  it  being  con¬ 
sidered  the  perfection  of  rudeness  and  barbarism,  and 
little  short  of  enmity,  to  refuse  any  thing  so  kindly  offered. 
This  tribe  had  approached  the  town  for  the  purpose  of 
selling  their  venison.  Each  horse  carried  two  or  three 
quarters,  fat  and  fine,  ready  skinned,  and  hanging  down 
its  sides.  The  price  was  only  a  quarter  dollar  for  3olbs., 
not  an  English  halfpenny  per  pound. 

Although  Vincennes  is  an  old  mother  town,  abounding 
in  rich  land,  it  is  uncultivated,  and  there  is  occasionally  a 
scarcity  of  necessaries,  particularly  of  milk  and  butter, 
which,  with  the  worst  tea,  are  dealt  out  very  sparingly;  no 
lump  sugar,  no  brandy,  no  segars,  no  spitoons  are  seen  at 
this  hotel. 

All  persons  here,  and  all  whom  I  have  met,  hitherto, 
during  this  western  pilgrimage,  whether  they  have  or  have 
not  visited  Birkbeck,  think  very  meanly  of  both  him  and 
his  settlement.  The  English  emigrants  particularly,  (says 

73  For  the  Miami  Indians,  consult  Weiser’s  Journal,  volume  i  of  our  series, 
note  24. —  Ed. 


21  2 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Mr. - )  deem  themselves  deceived  and  injured  by  his 

books  and  mis-statements. 

2nd. —  Yesterday  at  noon  came  on  a  heavy  gale,  which 
filled  the  atmosphere  for  the  remainder  of  the  day  and 
night,  with  a  strange  mixture  of  hot  [219]  smoke,  ashes, 
and  dusty  sand,  to  the  density  and  hue  of  a  London  fog  in 
December.  The  sun  was  completely  shorn  of  his  beams, 
and  the  whole  horizon,  for  unknown  miles  in  circumfer¬ 
ence,  filled  with  a  blinding  commotion,  like  a  gale  in  the 
great  desert;  and  at  night  to  the  N.  W.  the  sky  blazed  and 
reddened  over  a  great  extent,  while  the  big  Wabash  blushed, 
and  the  whole  atmosphere  became  illuminated,  as  though 
it  was  the  kindling  up  of  the  last  universal  conflagration. 

At  ten  this  morning  I  left  old  Vincennes  for  Prince-town 
The  horse  which  my  friend  Baker  had  borrowed  for  me 
was  mean  and  mis-shapen,  but  covered  with  buffalo  skins, 
which  hide  all  defects.  The  horses  here  are  nearly  all 
mean,  wild,  deformed,  half  grown,  dwarfish  things,  and 
much  in  taste  and  tune  with  their  riders.  The  pigs,  every 
where  in  great  abundance,  seem  more  than  half  wild,  and 
at  the  approach  of  man  fly,  or  run  like  deer  at  the  sight 
of  an  Indian  rifle.  Throughout  the  western  regions  they 
look  starved  to  death.  This,  however,  is  a  bad  season 
for  them,  there  being  little  mast,  that  is,  acorns,  nuts,  and 
other  wild  fruit  and  herbage.  I  passed  over  an  extensive, 
sandy,  black,  burning  prairie,  the  cause  of  yesterday’s 
and  to-day’s  thick  hazy  atmosphere,  the  sun  looking  more 
like  the  moon,  and  as  if  turned  into  blood.  At  noon,  I 
rode  through  a  large  rich  river-bottom  valley,  on  the  banks 
of  the  [220]  White  River,  and  which,  in  winter,  is  as  yet 
over-flowed,  from  six  to  ten  feet  of  water  above  the  surface, 
as  the  trees  prove  by  circles  round  their  trunks,  and  by 
their  boughs  dipping  and  catching  the  scum  of  the  surf. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


213 


This  land,  of  course,  is  the  finest  for  meadow,  if  it  were 
wanted,  but  as  the  prairies  are  all  meadow,  it  is  of  no  value. 
In  it  stand  such  enormous  trees  as  are  seldom  seen  else¬ 
where,  having  trunks  like  towers.  Here,  too,  flourishes, 
the  long  and  far-famed,  ever-green  mistletoe,  planted  by 
birds,  or  propagated  only  by  seed  or  berries,  which  are 
sown  or  deposited  on  decayed  branches  and  arms  of  oak 
and  other  trees,  to  beautify  the  desolation  of  the  winter 
forest.  Excessive  drinking  seems  the  all-pervading,  easily- 
besetting  sin  of  this  wild  hunting  country.  Plenty  of  coal 
is  found  on  the  Wabash  banks,  and  there  are  salt-springs 
in  this  state,  but  sad  Yankee  tricks  are  played  off  in  the 
working  and  making  salt  from  them.  Grease  and  fat  are 
used,  to  make  it  retain  a  large  portion  of  water,  which 
assists  in  filling  the  bushel  with  deception.  Although  fat 
is  so  abundant,  yet  it  is  sold  at  20  cents,  or  lod.  per  lb. 
and  candles  at  37 J  cents,  or  19 d.  per  lb.  Milk,  too,  in  a 
land  which  might  flow  with  milk  and  honey,  is  12^  cents, 
or  6 d.  per  quart,  and  not  a  constant  supply  at  that  price, 
nor  at  any  other  price,  unless  a  cow  is  kept.  Butter,  bad, 
at  25  cents  per  lb.  Beef,  six  cents  per  lb.  by  the  quarter, 
which  lies  on  the  ground  all  day  at  the  tavern  doors,  [221] 
as  if  brought  for  dog’s  meat.  Tavern  doors  are  here  never 
closed. 

Saving  two  comfortable  plantations,  with  neat  log- 
houses  and  flourishing  orchards,  just  planted,  and  which 
sprout  and  grow  like  osiers  in  England,  I  saw  nothing 
between  Vincennes  and  Princeton,  a  ride  of  forty  miles,  but 
miserable  log  holes,  and  a  mean  ville  of  eight  or  ten  huts 
or  cabins,  sad  neglected  farms,  and  indolent,  dirty,  sickly, 
wild-looking  inhabitants.  Soap  is  no  where  seen  or  found 
in  any  of  the  taverns,  east  or  west.  Hence  dirty  hands, 
heads,  and  faces  every  where.  Here  is  nothing  clean  but 


214 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


wild  beasts  and  birds,  nothing  industrious  generally,  ex¬ 
cept  pigs,  which  are  so  of  necessity.  Work  or  starve  is 
the  order  of  the  day  with  them.  Nothing  happy  but 
squirrels;  their  life  seems  all  play,  and  that  of  the  hogs  all 
work.  I  reached  Princeton  at  sun-set. 

yd. —  I  looked  round  Princeton,  a  four-year  old  town 
and  county-seat.  Here  I  found  and  called  on  my  country¬ 
man  Mr.  Phillips,  who  came  a  visitor  from  Somersetshire, 
but  fixed  on  a  pleasant  good  farm  of  300  acres  close  to  the 
town,  which  he  bought  with  some  improvements,  such  as 
a  small  log- house,  and  a  few  acres  cleared  by  art  and 
nature,  at  20  dollars  an  acre;  “the  only  farm  (says  he) 
which  I  would  have  in  this  state  of  Indiana,  but  which  I 
mean  to  improve  and  re-sell,  and  then  return  to  England. 
I  hate  the  prairies,  all  of  them;  insomuch  that  I  would  not 
have  any  [222]  of  them  of  a  gift,  if  I  must  be  compelled  to 
live  on  them.  They  are  all  without  water,  except  what 
is  too  muddy  and  distant  for  use.  I  am  much  perplexed 
with  labourers;  both  the  English  and  natives  are  good  for 
nothing;  they  know  nothing,  and  it  is  impossible  to  get 
any  kind  of  business  well  done,  either  with  or  without 
money.  Money  cannot  be  gained  by  cultivation.  There 
is  no  certain  good  market;  farm  produce  may,  per¬ 
haps,  be  sold  at  some  price,  but  you  cannot  get  your 
money  of  the  cheats  and  scum  of  society  who  live 
here.  I  think  that  Birkbeck  is  right  in  not  cultivating 
his  land,  though  wrong  and  mortified  in  having  written 
so  hastily  and  prematurely.  He  and  Flower  are  both 
sinking  and  scattering  money,  which  they  will  never  see 
more  or  gather  again.  They  cannot  even  hope  to  gain  or 
increase  their  capital,  but  by  the  contingent  increase  in  the 
value  of  their  land,  which  is  not  the  best  of  its  kind. 
With  hired  labour  and  a  market,  I  should  prefer  the  west- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


21 S 


ern  country,  but  here,  though  there  is  no  visible  want,  yet 
is  there  poverty  indeed,  and  but  little  or  no  friendship. 
No  sharing  things  in  common;  idleness,  poverty,  and  cheat¬ 
ing,  are  the  order  and  temper  of  the  day.” 

Mr.  Phillips  and  his  wife  both  looked  very  shabby,  wild, 
and  dirty.  He  apologized  to  me  for  his  dishabille,  and 
said,  “Sir,  if  a  stranger  like  you  had  found  me  in  this 
plight  in  England,  and  I  could  have  seen  you  coming  up 
to  my  door,  [223]  I  should  have  hid  myself.  Here,  how¬ 
ever,  no  shame  is  felt,  but  pleasure,  at  a  visit  from  one  of 
my  countrymen,  whom  I  shall  be  happy  to  meet  again.” 
He  keeps  an  housemaid  only,  his  wife  doing  nearly  all  the 
drudgery  herself,  although  in  England,  a  lady,  unaccus¬ 
tomed  to  soil  her  hands,  or  let  her  feet  stray  from  the 
parlour  carpet. 

I  had  a  long  and  interesting  conversation  with  a  young 
lawyer,  the  supreme  Judge  Hart,74  living  in  this  town,  but 
proscribed  and  suspended  for  sending  a  challenge  to  three 
agents  of  his  estates  in  Kentucky,  who,  after  injuring  him, 
caricatured  him,  and  then  refused  to  fight.  The  judge 
says  that  English  labourers  know  nothing,  and  are  worth 
nothing  in  agriculture  here;  hewing,  splitting,  clearing, 
grubbing,  and  ploughing  among  roots,  being  a  business 
which  they  do  not,  and  wish  not,  to  understand.  It  is 
true  that  they  are  handy  with  the  spade,  and  that  only. 
They  feel  too  free  to  work  in  earnest,  or  at  all,  above  two 
or  three  days  in  a  week.  Every  English  body  here  is 
above  work,  except  the  good  little  farmer,  like  your  friend, 
John  Ingle,  and  old  Phillips,  the  former  of  whom  is  likely 

74  David  Hart  was  a  son  of  one  of  the  three  Hart  Brothers  from  near  Gran¬ 
ville,  North  Carolina,  who  were  among  the  proprietors  of  the  colony  of  Transyl¬ 
vania.  He  removed  from  Kentucky  to  Princeton  (1815),  and  was  presiding 
judge  of  the  first  circuit  court  in  that  district  (1818).  He  died  soon  after  1820, 
and  his  family  returned  to  Lexington,  Kentucky. —  Ed. 


2l6 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


to  kill  himself  with  hard  work.  He  was  sick  twice  in 
consequence,  and  once  nearly  unto  death.  Mrs.  Ingle 
and  her  husband  gain  and  deserve  a  good  name,  and  feel 
happy  and  contented  on  a  good  farm,  which  is  too  near 
the  road.  They  bought  a  log-house,  town  lot,  pro  tempore, 
at  Princeton,  at  a  forced  [224]  sale,  for  300  dollars;  which 
they  now  let  for  forty  dollars  a  year,  to  Mr.  and  Miss 
Fordham,  Flower’s  nephew  and  niece,  who  were  sick  of 
the  prairie  of  Illinois,  where  health  could  not  attend  them. 
Your  friend,  J.  Ingle,  lost  his  horses  for  three  weeks.  He 
is  expecting  more  of  his  English  friends  to  follow  him. 
Mr.  Birkbeck  is  disappointed  and  unhappy;  I  know  him 
well.  He  has  not  cultivated  nor  raised,  as  yet,  any  thing 
from  his  land,  although  the  Harmonites  refused  to  sell 
him  produce,  because  they  thought  it  was  his  duty  to 
raise  it  himself,  and  plainly  told  him  so.  He  will  never 
make  a  farmer,  nor  money  by  farming  there.  It  is  idle 
to  attempt  to  import  English  labourers  for  the  use  of 
yourselves  exclusively,  for  Birkbeck  and  Flower  lost  all. 
The  same,  says  Mr.  Pittiss,  late  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
Women  and  girls,  too,  are  here  above  assisting  in  the 
house,  at  a  price  per  day  or  week.  Wives  and  daughters 
must  do  all  themselves.  The  girl,  or  white  servant,  if 
one  can  now  and  then  be  had,  at  one  dollar  per  week  and 
board,  is  pert  and  proud  as  her  mistress,  and  has  her 
parasol  at  six  dollars,  and  bonnet  at  ten  or  twelve  dollars, 
and  other  articles  in  character,  which,  as  dress  generally 
does  with  all  grades,  seduces  them  from  a  virtuous  regard 
for  their  duties,  says  this  young  and  sprightly  lawyer. 
People  here,  though  poor  and  idle,  feel  above  thieving, 
the  facility  of  living  without,  and  the  certainty  of  expo¬ 
sure  and  summary  [225]  punishment,  seem  to  conquer 
the  propensity,  where  it  may  happen  to  exist. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


217 


I  feel  convinced  that  none  but  working  farmers,  like 
John  Ingle,  ought  to  come  to  this  western  land.  Water 
is  bad,  white,  or  milky,  at  Princeton;  but  beds  are  good, 
with  the  bed-room  doors  next  the  street,  unlocked  all 
night,  in  order  that  ingress  and  egress  may  be  free,  which 
is  the  more  necessary,  as  there  are,  as  is  very  generally  the 
case  here,  none  of  those  accommodations,  either  within 
or  without  doors,  which  an  Englishman  looks  upon  as 
quite  indispensable. 

I  met  and  talked  with  old  Squire  M’Intosh,  who,  al¬ 
though  he  has  lived  35  years  here,  away  from  his  dear 
native  Scotland,  still  regrets  it.  “I  now  live,”  says  the 
squire,  “on  the  grand  rapids  of  the  big  Wabash,  a  mile 
above  the  White  River  ferry;  call  and  spend  a  night  with 
me  on  your  way  to  Birkbeck’s  settlement,  which  is  the 
reverse  of  every  thing  which  he  has  written  of  it,  and 
described  it  to  be.  The  neighbourhood,  however,  do  not 
think  he  intended  to  misrepresent  and  deceive,  but  that 
he  wrote  too  soon,  and  without  knowing  the  real  state  of 
things,  and  understanding  his  subject,  or  knowing  where 
to  find  the  best  land.  He  ought  to  have  examined,  in 
company  with  one  of  Uncle  Sam’s  surveyors;  he  would 
not  then  have  entered  land  in  the  lump,  or  mass,  a  great 
deal  of  which  is  not  good,  nor  ever  can  be,  being  wet, 
swampy,  cold  prairies,  something  [226]  like  undrained 
marshes  in  England.  Mr.  Birkbeck  entered  much  at  the 
land-office,  but  sold  little,  only  such  half  sections  as  he 
ought  to  have  bought  and  kept  for  himself  and  friends. 
Mr.  Phillips,  on  whom  you  have  just  called,  say  the 
gentlemen  round  me,  is  the  slave  of  his  own  English  no¬ 
tions  and  passions;  he  is,  therefore,  always  hesitating  and 
undecided ;  sometimes,  when  things  run  crossly  and 
crooked,  he  is  seen  and  heard  heartily  execrating  this  coun- 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


218 


try  and  people;  and,  at  other  times,  he  is  well  pleased. 
He  is  an  odd  man,  surrounded  with  eight  fierce  dogs,  and 
has  a  fine,  never-failing  mill  spring,  running  a  mile  through 
his  farm,  which,  one  year  ago,  cost  20  dollars,  but  is  now 
worth  only  ten  dollars  an  acre,  with  all  improvements. 
This  is  turning  a  penny  quickly!  Despatch  is  the  life 
and  soul  of  business.” 

4 th. —  The  Supreme  Judge,  Hart,  is  a  gay  young  man 
of  twenty-five,  full  of  wit  and  humorous  eloquence,  mixing 
with  all  companies  at  this  tavern,  where  he  seems  neither 
above  nor  below  any,  dressed  in  an  old  white  beaver  hat, 
coarse  threadbare  coat  and  trowsers  of  the  same  cloth 
(domestic,)  and  yellow  striped  waistcoat,  with  his  coat 
out  at  the  elbows;  yet  very  cleanly  in  his  person,  and  re¬ 
fined  in  his  language.  What  can  be  the  inducement  for 
a  young  man,  like  him,  equal  to  all  things,  to  live  thus, 
and  here  ? 

Judge  Hart  deems  merchandizing  to  be  the  most  [227] 
profitable  pursuit  in  the  west,  and  the  liberal  professions 
the  last  and  worst. 

Mr.  Nicholls,  a  cunning  Caledonian,  says,  that  farming, 
except  near  the  rivers,  cannot  answer;  but  raising  and 
feeding  cattle  and  pigs  may.  Store-keeping  is  here  evi¬ 
dently  the  best  of  all  employments,  if  cents  and  dollars 
enter  into  the  estimate.  Money  spent  in  improving  land 
is  seldom  more  than  returned  with  interest,  and  often  lost 
by  reselling  or  selling  out,  especially  if  the  labour  is  not 
all  done  by  the  farmer;  and  if  it  is  done  by  his  own  instead 
of  hired  hands,  he  is  not  more  than  fairly  paid  for  his 
time  and  labour,  which  are  both  money.  It  is  therefore 
best  for  the  mere  capitalist  to  buy  rather  than  make  all 
the  improvements,  as  he  certainly  buys  them  much  cheaper 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


219 


than  he  can  create  them.  He  should  confine  himself  to 
the  east. 

Mr.  Phillips,  the  English  gentleman  on  whom  I  called 
yesterday,  returned  my  call  this  evening.  He  seems  a 
mass  of  contradiction,  and  states  that  this  western  coun¬ 
try  is  the  best  he  knows,  but  that  it  costs  more  to  live  in 
it  than  in  London ;  that  it  is  idle  for  a  farmer  to  raise  more 
produce  than  he  can  use  himself ;  but  that  there  are  farmers 
making  money  as  fast  as  they  can  count  it,  by  raising  large 
quantities  of  farm  produce  in  this  and  the  neighbouring 
state  of  Illinois;  that  others  might  do  the  same;  that  there 
is  now  a  market  better  than  in  the  east,  and  that  in  five 
or  seven  years  the  [228]  market  at  New  Orleans  down  the 
river  will  be  good  and  great;  yet  that  the  parties  to  whom 

you  must  sell  are  all  d - d  rogues.  Feeding  beef  and 

pork  he  deems  a  good  trade,  especially  when  the  land  shall 
come  to  be  clovered  and  sown  with  other  grass  seeds. 
He  thinks  there  is  little  or  no  good  beef  in  the  wilderness, 
because  it  is  raised  and  fed  on  natural  wild  vegetables, 
many  of  which  are  ill-flavoured  and  poisonous.  Beasts 
often  die  suddenly  in  the  fall  of  the  year  in  consequence 
of  being  confined  to  such  food.  The  natural  white  clover, 
in  the  month  of  June,  salivates  cattle  and  horses,  which, 
however,  still  devour  it  greedily,  and  seem  to  thrive 
thereon. 

Our  party  this  evening  were  all  agreed  in  this  partic¬ 
ular;  that  the  western  country  is  only  fit  for  the  little  hard¬ 
working  farmer  with  a  small  capital.  He  must  live,  and 
better  than  he  could  elsewhere,  on  and  from  the  produc¬ 
tions  of  his  own  hands  and  lands.  He  can  retail  his  pro¬ 
duce,  and  be  gardener  and  farmer  both;  vegetables  every 
where  being  scarce  and  dear,  because  people  are  too  idle 


220 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


to  raise  them.  Wholesale  farmers  from  England  expect¬ 
ing  to  cultivate  from  300  to  1,000  acres,  and  sell  the  farm 
produce  in  lumps,  will  come  here  only  to  be  disappointed. 
Small  retailing  farmers  only  are  wanted  here.  Mr.  Phil¬ 
lips  deems  that  Birkbeck,  Flower,  and  Mr.  Dunlop  of 
London,  who  have  bought  so  many  thousands  of  acres, 

and  the  latter  of  whom  pays  treble  tax  as  a  [229]  non-resi- 

/ 

dent,  will  greatly  benefit  at  some  future  time  by  capital 
so  employed,  although  they  may  never  cultivate  an  acre, 
or  touch  the  land.  The  capital  seems  to  be  idle  and 
sleeps,  but  it  will  one  day,  he  thinks,  awake,  and  find  itself 
gigantically  augmented.  Mr.  Phillips,  whose  opinion  is 
not  respected  here,  was  never  a  farmer  until  he  came  here. 
His  improvements  do  honour  to  his  intuition. 

General  Evans,75  who  this  day  formed  one  of  our  circle, 
is  in  part  the  owner  of  this  town  of  Princeton,  and  of 
Evansville,  which  bears  his  name.  He  is  a  pleasant, 
rustic,  middle-aged  man,  living  here  in  a  little  log-house, 
together  with  his  lady  and  daughter,  who,  having  no  ser¬ 
vant,  do  all  the  work  of  their  establishment  themselves. 
Servants  are  not  to  be  had.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants.  Envy  and  invidious  com¬ 
parisons  have,  therefore,  no  place  at  Princeton. 

General  Boon,  during  the  last  war,  (says  the  General) 
lost  two  sons  killed;  and  his  favourite  daughter  and  her 
friend  were  stolen  by  the  Indians,  who  marched  the  fair 

75  General  Robert  M.  Evans’s  career  is  typical  of  the  restless  life  of  many 
western  pioneers.  Born  in  Frederick  County,  Virginia  (1783),  he  removed  to 
Paris,  Kentucky,  and  in  1805  to  Indiana  Territory,  settling  first  a  tract  of  land 
where  Princeton  is  now  located;  thence  he  went  to  Vincennes,  where  he  kept 
a  hotel.  He  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  and  in  the  War  of  1812-15 
served  as  aid  to  General  Harrison,  being  appointed  by  him  brigadier-general  of 
militia.  In  1814  he  laid  out  the  town  of  Evansville,  taking  up  his  residence 
there  ten  years  later.  Settling  at  New  Harmony,  he  again  opened  an  hotel.  Re¬ 
turning  to  Evansville  (1828),  he  resided  there  until  his  death  (1844). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


221 


captives  two  days  without  resting,  and  intended  marry¬ 
ing  them,  but  were  overtaken  by  the  colonel  and  his  son, 
and  a  lover  of  the  lady.  The  young  couple,  previous  to 
this  event,  were  on  the  point  of  marriage,  and  are  now 
living  as  husband  and  wife  in  Kentucky.  The  captives 
cunningly  indented  the  ground  all  the  way  from  the  Colo¬ 
nel’s  house  with  their  high-heeled  shoes,  [230]  so  that  they 
might  be  tracked;  and  when  they  saw  their  brave  deliv¬ 
erers  coming  up  full  speed,  they  fell  flat  on  the  earth,  while 
the  firing  of  rifles  commenced  on  the  Indians,  who  tried 
in  vain  to  kill  their  fair  prisoners  by  throwing  their  knives 
and  tomahawks  at  them;  but  the  pursuers  triumphed,  and 
all  were  recovered  and  restored  unhurt.  General  Boon 
now  lives  in  solitude  600  miles  up  the  remote  Missouri. 
He  is  80  years  old,  very  active,  very  poor,  a  hunter  and  a 
recluse  by  choice,  and  trains  up  his  sons  in  the  same  path, 
feeling  more  happiness  than  he  possibly  could  in  society, 
where  he  would  have  lived  and  died,  if  he  had  willed  it, 
full  of  scars,  and  honours,  and  days.  His  parents  were 
always  poor;  his  disposition  is  kind  and  hospitable;  his 
manners  simple  and  gentle ;  preferring  to  live  meanly  and 
rudely  as  a  hardy  hunter  and  squatter,  wanting  nothing  but 
what  nature  gives  him,  and  his  own  hands  get  him.  He 
sleeps  on  a  bear-skin,  and  clothes  himself  in  dressed  deer¬ 
skin,  and  though  shy,  is  kind  to  intruding  strangers.  The 
western  country  is  indebted  to  him,  as  he  leads  the  way 
into  the  best  spots  of  the  wilderness.  He  was  the  first 
white  man  in  Old  Kentucky,  and  the  wide,  wild  west  is 
full  of  his  licks.  A  flourishing  settlement  always  rises 
wherever  he  has  once  squatted,  and  whenever  any  settlers 
begin  to  approach  near  his  location,  he  quits  it  for  ever, 
and  moves  on  further  west;  and  the  place,  which  he  thus 
abandons,  is  called  Boon’s  [231]  Lick.  He  never  wants 


222 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


much  land;  only  a  spot  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  his 
household.76 

I  saw  a  man  this  day  with  his  face  sadly  disfigured. 
He  had  lost  his  nose,  bitten  off  close  down  to  its  root,  in  a 
fight  with  a  nose-loving  neighbour. 

Judge  Hart  deems  it  foolish  policy  in  Englishmen  wish¬ 
ing  to  form  English  settlements  and  neighbourhoods, 
and  thereby  to  perpetuate  English  distinctions  and 
prejudices,  so  offensive  to  their  adopted  country,  and  so 
unprofitable  to  themselves.  Nothing  is  good  with  them 
but  what  is  English,  whereas  they  should  rather  endeav¬ 
our  to  forget  the  name,  which  ever  kindles  unfriendly 
feelings. 

I  saw  a  fine  fat  buck,  fat  as  a  Lincolnshire  wether  sheep, 
and  weighing,  when  dressed  and  with  the  head  off, 
i4olbs.  It  sold  for  two  dollars,  less  than  three  farthings 
per  pound. 

Politeness,  in  manner  and  address,  is  more  necessary 
here  than  in  Bond-street,  for  here  you  invariably  receive 
it,  and  to  give  it  in  return  is  justly  due.  The  titles,  4  ‘Sir” 
and  “ Madam,’ ’  (not  Ma’am)  are  pleasant  to  and  ex¬ 
pected  by  all;  for  however  mean  may  be  the  exterior  of 
a  citizen  of  this  free,  equal  country,  there  is  a  spirit  and 
an  intelligence,  and  often  sprightliness  about  him,  which 
decorate  any  thing  and  make  even  rags  respectable. 

Two  months  ago  the  High  Sheriff  of  Chilicothe,  Ohio, 
went  to  jail  for  want  of  bail.  He  had  seized,  [232]  person- 

76  For  a  short  sketch  of  Daniel  Boone,  see  Bradbury’s  Travels,  volume  v  of 
our  series,  note  16.  In  July,  1776,  Jemima  Boone,  then  about  fourteen  years 
of  age,  and  Elizabeth  and  Frances  Callaway  having  crossed  the  Kentucky  River 
from  Boonesborough,  were  captured  by  five  Indians  and  hurried  towards  the 
Ohio  River.  When  their  absence  was  discovered,  Daniel  Boone  and  about 
twenty  companions  started  in  pursuit,  and  overtaking  the  Indians  on  the  second 
day,  killed  two  of  them  and  rescued  the  girls.  Jemima  Boone  married  Francis 
Callaway,  one  of  the  pursuing  party. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


223 


ally,  on  the  funds  of  the  United  States’  branch  bank.77 
This  was  hard ! 

Birkbeck,  (say  my  companions)  complained  at  first  of 
our  slovenly  state  of  things,  and  the  indolence  of  farmers 
and  labourers,  and  boasted  of  what  might  be  done,  and 
what  he  should  do,  but  has,  at  the  end  of  four  years, 
done  nothing  but  talk  of  doing.  The  facility  of  a  living 
for  all,  and  the  consequent  difficulty  of  procuring  labour, 
even  for  money,  together  with  the  sickly,  relaxing  warmth 
of  the  climate,  are  obstacles  which  overwhelm  all  indus¬ 
try.  The  principal  care  is  how  to  live  easy.  Time,  and 
not  man,  effectually  clears  and  improves  land  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  Time  here  changes  his  character,  and  preserves  and 
replenishes,  while  man  destroys  and  wears  out  what 
he  can. 

The  reason  (says  Judge  Hart)  why  Scotchmen  always 
get  money,  in  this  and  all  other  lands  to  which  they  wander, 
is,  because  they  leave  no  means  untried. 

The  season,  called  the  Indian  summer ,  which  here  com¬ 
mences  in  October,  by  a  dark  blue  hazy  atmosphere,  is 
caused  by  millions  of  acres,  for  thousands  of  miles  round, 
being  in  a  wide-spreading,  flaming,  blazing,  smoking  fire, 
rising  up  through  wood  and  prairie,  hill  and  dale,  to  the 
tops  of  low  shrubs  and  high  trees,  which  are  kindled  by 

77  February,  1819,  Ohio  laid  a  tax  of  $50,000  a  year  on  all  branches  of  the 
United  States  Bank  within  the  state.  The  auditor  of  Ohio,  Ralph  Osborn, 
issued  a  warrant  to  John  Harper,  sheriff  of  Chillicothe,  to  collect  the  tax.  Mean¬ 
while  the  decision  in  the  case  of  McCulloch  vs.  the  State  of  Maryland  had  been 
handed  down  by  the  supreme  court,  and  the  Chillicothe  branch  bank  obtained 
a  subpoena  in  chancery  restraining  Osborn  from  collecting  the  tax.  None  the 
less,  Harper  proceeded  to  the  bank,  and  upon  being  refused  the  money  entered 
the  vault  and  seized  the  specie  and  notes  on  hand.  Both  he  and  Osborn  were 
arrested  and  tried  before  the  circuit  court  at  Chillicothe,  but  were  discharged. 
For  reckless  banking  in  the  West,  hostility  to  the  United  States  Bank,  and  the 
supreme  court  decisions,  see  Flint’s  Letters ,  volume  ix  of  our  series,  pp.  219-224, 
and  note  114. —  Ed. 


224 


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[Vol.  ii 


the  coarse,  thick,  long,  prairie  grass,  and  dying  leaves,  at 
every  point  of  the  compass,  [233]  and  far  beyond  the  foot 
of  civilization,  darkening  the  air,  heavens  and  earth,  over 
the  whole  extent  of  the  northern  and  part  of  the  southern 
continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  in  neigh¬ 
bourhoods  contiguous  to  the  all-devouring  conflagration, 
filling  the  whole  horizon  with  yellow,  palpable,  tangible 
smoke,  ashes,  and  vapour,  which  affect  the  eyes  of  man 
and  beast,  and  obscure  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  for  many 
days,  or  until  the  winter  rains  descend  to  quench  the  fire 
and  purge  the  thick  ropy  air,  which  is  seen,  tasted,  handled, 
and  felt. 

So  much  for  an  Indian  summer,  which  partakes  of  the 
vulgar  idea  of  the  infernal.  Why  called  Indian?  Be¬ 
cause  these  fires  seem  to  have  originated  with  the  native 
tribes,  and  are  now  perpetuated  by  the  White  Hunters, 
who  by  these  means  start,  disturb,  and  pen  up  the  game, 
and  destroy  the  dens  of  both  man  and  beast,  and  all  this 
with  impunity. 

To-morrow,  through  floods  and  flames,  I  shall  endeav¬ 
our  to  make  good  my  desperate  way  to  the  retreat  of  my 
good  friend,  John  Ingle,  in  Indiana. 

6th. —  At  nine,  a.  m.  I  left  Princeton  on  a  horse  carrying 
double,  me  and  my  guide,  through  the  wilderness^  to  my 
friend  John  Ingle’s,  who  had  sent  the  said  horse  and  boy 
twenty-five  miles  for  my  accommodation.  The  little 
town  just  quitted,  and  at  which  I  paid  the  extravagant 
price  of  two  [234]  dollars  a  day  for  board,  has  nineteen 
streets,  and  about  one  hundred  and  five  houses,  one  prison, 
and  one  meeting-house,  or  church,  all  of  wood;  one  su¬ 
preme  judge,  and  four  other  judges;  and  in  the  unpeopled 
county  are  another  quorum  of  judges,  and  three  generals. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


225 


It  is  called  Princeton,  in  honour  of  its  living  founder, 
Judge  Prince.78 

We  rode  all  day  through  thick  smoke  and  fire,  which 
sometimes  met  in  pillar-like  arches  across  the  road,  and 
compelled  us  to  wait  awhile,  or  turn  aside.  We  passed 
only  one  comfortable  abode,  and  three  or  four  filthy  one- 
room  log-holes,  surrounded  by  small  patches,  cleared 
samples  of  the  bulk,  which  seems  good  land.  I  called 
at  one  of  the  three,  a  tavern,  to  beg  for  bread,  but  got 
none;  only  some  whiskey.  I  saw  a  deer-lick,  at  which  I 
dismounted  and  took  a  lick.  The  earth  thus  licked  and 
excavated  by  many  tongues,  is  of  the  colour  of  fuller's 
earth ,  not  ill-flavoured,  but  a  little  salt  and  saponaceous, 
always  attractive  to  the  beasts  of  the  forest. 

At  five  o’clock,  p.  m.,  I  reached  the  welcome  abode  of 
my  Huntingdonshire  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Ingle,79 
who,  together  with  their  English  maid-servant,  Rebecca, 
and  six  children,  rushed  out  to  embrace  and  welcome  their 
old  friend,  school-fellow,  neighbour,  and  fellow-country¬ 
man,  and  great  was  the  joy  of  our  meeting. 

Here  I  found  good  sweet  bread,  like  the  English,  and 
hot  corn-cake,  and  supped,  on  what  I  supposed  [235]  fine 
pork  steaks.  “This  meat  (said  I  to  Mr.  Ingle)  is  most 
delicious.”  “Well  then,  you  like  it,  do  you?”  “I  do 
indeed.”  “What  do  you  think  it  is?”  “Why,  pork  to 
be  sure.”  ‘  ‘Well,  we  thought  we  would  not  tell  you  until 
after  supper,  lest  you  should  fancy  it  was  not  good  and 
refure  to  eat  Bear."  “Oh,”  said  I,  “if  this  be  bear,  give 
me  bear  for  ever.” 

78  For  Judge  Prince  and  the  founding  of  Princeton,  see  Hulme’s  Journal , 
volume  x  of  our  series,  note  16. —  Ed. 

79  For  John  Ingle  and  this  English  settlement  in  Indiana,  see  Woods’s  Eng¬ 
lish  Prairie,  volume  x  of  our  series,  notes  2,  60. —  Ed. 


226 


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[Vol.  ii 


My  friend’s  log-house,  as  a  first,  is  one  of  the  best  I 
have  seen,  having  one  large  room  and  a  chamber  over  it, 
to  which  you  climb  by  a  ladder.  It  has,  at  present,  no 
windows,  but  when  the  doors  are  shut  the  crevices  be¬ 
tween  the  rough  logs  admit  light  and  air  enough,  above 
and  below.  It  is  five  yards  square  and  twenty  feet  high. 
At  a  little  distance  stand  a  stable  for  two  horses,  a  corn 
crib,  a  pig-stye,  and  a  store ;  for  store-keeping  is  his  inten¬ 
tion,  and  it  is  a  good  one.  Two  beds  in  the  room  below, 
and  one  above,  lodge  us  in  the  following  manner;  myself 
and  Mr.  Ingle  in  one  bed;  in  the  second,  by  our  side, 
sleep  six  fine  but  dirty  children;  and  in  the  chamber,  Mrs. 
Ingle  and  a  valuable  English  maid.  Thus,  on  my  account, 
husband  and  wife  are  divided.  It  is  not  unusual  for  a 
male  and  female  to  sleep  in  the  same  room  uncurtained, 
holding  conversation  while  in  bed.  In  a  yard  adjoining 
the  house  are  three  sows  and  pigs  half  starved,  and  several 
cows,  calves,  and  horses,  very  poor,  having  no  grass,  no 
pasture,  but  with  bells  about  their  necks,  [236]  eternally 
ringing.  Shame,  or  rather  what  is  called  false  shame, 
or  delicacy,  does  not  exist  here.  Males  dress  and  undress 
before  the  females,  and  nothing  is  thought  of  it.  Here  is 
no  servant.  The  maid  is  equal  to  the  master.  No  boy, 
or  man-servant.  No  water,  but  at  half  a  mile  distant.  Mr. 
Ingle  does  all  the  jobs,  and  more  than  half  the  hewing, 
splitting,  and  ploughing.  He  is  all  economy,  all  dirty- 
handed  industry.  No  wood  is  cut  in  readiness  for  morn¬ 
ing  fires.  He  and  the  axe  procure  it,  and  provender  for 
the  poor  hungry  cattle,  pigs,  and  horses.  His  time  is  con¬ 
tinually  occupied,  and  the  young  boys  just  breeched  are 
made  useful  in  every  possible  way. 

Nothing  is  English  here  but  friendship  and  good-will. 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  Journal 


227 


American  labourers  here,  as  usual,  are  very  villainous; 
one,  a  preacher,  took  a  piece  of  land  to  clear  for  my  friend, 
and  received,  before  he  began,  forty  dollars  on  account, 
but  refused  to  perform  his  contract.  To  sue  him  was  idle. 
My  friend,  in  the  presence  of  the  fellow’s  son,  called  him 
a  right  reverend  rascal  and  thief.  “Call  him  so  again,” 
said  the  son,  doubling  his  fist  ready  to  strike.  My  friend 
repeated  it,  and  taking  up  an  axe,  said.  “Now  strike, 
but  if  you  do,  as  I  was  never  yet  afraid  of  a  man,  I’ll  chop 
you  into  rails.”  Money  rarely  procures  its  value  in 
labour.  He  deems  that  as  much  money  is  to  be  made 
from  200  acres  of  land  here,  as  in  England,  while  here 
the  land  is  made  your  own.  [237]  To  do  that  in  England, 
is  the  top  of  a  farmer’s  ambition.  Here,  a  man  can  make 
all  that  he  cultivates  his  own.  He  says  that  he  shall  live 
and  gain  money  this  first  year,  though  only  sixteen  acres 
are  in  cultivation.  Mrs.  Ingle,  maid,  and  children, 
suffered  much  in  crossing  the  sea  and  mountains.  They 
slept  on  the  floor,  in  a  hole,  with  waggoners,  and  other 
male  blackguards,  where  the  stench,  both  by  sea  and  land, 
was  little  short  of  pestilential. 

Sunday ,  7 th. —  More  than  half  last  night,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ingle,  and  maid,  were  out  in  the  woods  extinguishing  the 
wide  spreading  fires,  which  threatened  to  consume  their 
fences,  houses,  and  corn-fields.  The  whole  horizon  was 
brilliantly  illuminated.  These  fires,  if  not  arrested,  or 
watched,  sweep  away  houses,  stacks  of  corn  and  hay,  and 
every  thing  within  reach.  So  fared  Mr.  Grant,  late  of 
Chatteris,  who  is  now  dead.  The  sound  of  the  axe,  split¬ 
ting  fire- wood,  salutes  the  ear  every  morning,  instead  of 
the  birds’  song.  I  was  smoked  to  death  all  night:  our 
friends  rested  all  day  absent  from  meeting,  but  still  the 


228 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


knees  of  all  present  were  bent  to  the  God  of  their  good 
fathers.  Sunday  passes  unnoticed  in  the  English  prairie, 
except  by  hunting  and  cricket  matches. 

The  bears,  during  the  summer,  are  lean  and  hungry, 
and  seize  the  hogs  and  eat  them  alive.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  hogs  escape  home  [238]  with  the  loss  of  a 
pound  or  two  of  living  flesh.  These  creatures  sleep  all 
the  winter  quite  fat.  Rattle-snakes  abound  here.  Mr. 
Ingle  killed  four  or  five  beautiful  snakes  of  this  species 
this  summer,  and  one  or  two  vipers. 

8th. —  I  accompanied  J.  Ingle,  and  water-cart,  to  the 
spring,  half  a  mile  off,  on  the  farm  of  Major  Hooker,  a 
hunter,  who  sold  us  half  a  fat  buck  at  three  cents 
a  pound;  thus  killing  and  selling  from  four  to  six  per 
week,  besides  turkeys,  pheasants,  rabbits,  racoons,  squir¬ 
rels,  and  bears.  This  half  buck,  weighing  70  pounds, 
Mr.  Ingle  carried  home  on  a  shoulder- stick.  The 
major’s,  and  other  families  here,  raise  cotton  for  domestic 
uses,  which,  in  warm  and  dry  seasons,  flourishes  well. 
What  I  saw  in  pods,  and  that  which  the  women  were 
spinning,  seemed  of  excellent  quality.  The  seed  of  this 
plant  was,  in  slave  states,  thought  nutritious  enough, 
when  boiled,  for  the  support  of  negroes;  but  as  many  died 
in  using  it,  it  was  abandoned. 

The  China  leaf,  or  tea-plant,  has  been  propagated  at 
Princeton,  in  Mr.  Devan’s  garden,  and  at  Harmony,  from 
seed  brought  from  China.  It  is  said  to  grow  luxuriantly, 
yielding  more  leaf  than  is  used,  and  making  a  useful  de¬ 
coction,  similar  in  flavour,  though  not  so  pleasant,  as  that 
procured  from  the  imported  plant.  It  is  manufactured 
by  sweating  it  in  an  oven,  and  when  [239]  taken  out,  it 
cools  and  curls  up,  and  becomes  fit  for  use.  The  indigo 
also  is  a  little  cultivated.  The  woods  abound  with  med- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


229 


ical  herbs.  The  Ching  Sang  and  Ipecacuanha  are  found, 
for  emetics.  The  vine  is  very  luxuriant,  and  cultivated 
at  Harmony  with  success;  while  the  trees  are  full  of  gum. 
The  Dogwood  Bark  is  also  found  as  efficient  as  the  Peru¬ 
vian,  and  the  Sassafras  tea  is  in  general  use  for  two  or 
three  months. 

Great  idleness  prevails  in  the  Illinois;  little  or  no  pro¬ 
duce  is  yet  raised.  G.  Flower  had  contracted  with  the 
American  hunters,  to  raise  and  cultivate  500  acres  of  corn 
and  grain;  he  finding  land  and  seed,  and  they  all  the 
labour  of  raising  and  getting  it  fit  for  market,  at  nine 
dollars  an  acre.  This  bargain  became  void. 

9 th. —  A  doctor,  of  little  or  no  skill,  lives  twelve  miles 
distant,  and  this  little  settlement  of  Sandersville  has  no 
school  for  the  children,  who  remain  at  home  pestering 
their  parents,  and  retrograding  into  barbarism.  Mrs. 
Ingle  dreads  their  mixing  and  associating  with  the  race 
of  children  who  surround  them.  A  schoolmaster  here 
would  be  welcomed  with  a  salary  of  from  400  to  500  dol¬ 
lars  a  year,  although  not  one  of  the  first  grade,  but  he  must 
be  content  to  live  in  a  wilderness. 

I  feel,  every  day,  more  and  more  convinced  that  the 
western  country  is  suited  only  to  working  families,  like 
those  of  J.  Ingle;  where  Mrs.  Ingle,  (delicately  bred)  and 
all  turn  out  to  work,  as  to-day,  [240]  and  the  other  night 
to  put  out  the  approaching  fires. 

The  bears  and  wolves  have  devoured  several  sows 
while  farrowing;  they  are  then  weak  and  defenceless,  and 
therefore  an  easy  prey.  Never  did  I  behold  such  ghostly 
pigs  as  here.  Soap,  candles,  sugar,  cotton,  leather,  and 
woollen  clothes,  of  a  good  quality,  are  here  all  made  from 
the  land,  but  not  without  the  most  formidable,  unremit¬ 
ting  industry  on  the  part  of  the  females.  Filth  and  rags, 


23° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


however,  are  often  preferred.  Imperious  necessity  alone 
commands  extraordinary  exertion.  Yesterday,  a  settler 
passed  our  door  with  a  bushel  of  corn-meal  on  his  back, 
for  which  he  had  travelled  twenty  miles,  on  foot,  to  the 
nearest  horse-mill,  and  carried  it  ten  miles,  paying  75 
cents  for  it.  This  said  corn  is  invaluable  to  both  man 
and  beast;  black  and  white  men  both  profess  to  think 
they  should  starve  on  wheat  meal  without  corn. 

The  everlasting  sound  of  falling  trees,  which,  being 
undermined  by  the  fires,  are  falling  around  almost  every 
hour,  night  and  day,  produces  a  sound  loud  and  jarring 
as  the  discharge  of  ordnance,  and  is  a  relief  to  the  dreary 
silence  of  these  wilds,  only  broken  by  the  axe,  the  gun, 
or  the  howlings  of  wild  beasts. 

Retrograding  and  barbarizing  is  an  easy  process.  Far 
from  the  laws  and  restraints  of  society,  and  having  no 
servants  to  do  that  for  us  which  [241]  was  once  daily  done, 
we  become  too  idle  in  time  to  do  any  thing,  but  that  which 
nature  and  necessity  require ;  pride  and  all  stimuli  forsake 
us,  for  we  find  ourselves  surrounded  only  by  men  of  sim¬ 
ilar  manners;  hence,  the  face  is  seldom  shaved,  or  washed, 
or  the  linen  changed  except  on  washing-days.  The 
shoes  are  cleaned,  perhaps,  never;  for  if,  indeed,  a  servant, 
from  England,  is  kept,  he,  or  she,  is  on  a  happy  equality, 
rising  up  last  and  lying  down  first,  and  eating  freely  at 
the  same  time  and  table.  None  here  permit  themselves 
to  have  a  master,  but  negroes. 

A  voyage  in  the  stinking  steerage  of  a  ship,  and  then  a 
journey  over  the  mountains  in  waggons,  sometimes  camp¬ 
ing  out  all  night,  or  sleeping,  like  pigs,  as  did  Mrs.  Ingle 
and  six  children  and  maid,  on  the  dirty  floor  of  a  bar¬ 
room,  amongst  blackguards,  and  then  floating  in  a  little 
stinking  ark,  full  of  unclean  things,  will  prepare  the  mind 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


231 


and  body  for  barbarizing  in  a  little  log-hole,  like  that  in 
which  I  dined  yesterday,  belonging  to  Mr.  Ferrel,  who, 
with  his  family,  some  adults,  male  and  female,  in  all  ten 
souls,  sleep  in  one  room,  fifteen  feet  by  ten,  only  half 
floored,  and  in  three  beds,  standing  on  a  dirt  floor.  The 
table,  or  thing  so  called,  is  formed  by  two  blocks  and  a 
broad  board  laid  on  them,  and  covered  with  a  cloth,  and 
seats  or  forms,  in  like  manner,  on  each  side  of  the  table, 
which  is  only  knee-high.  Proper  chairs  and  tables,  they 
have  none.  When  it  rains,  [242]  boards  are  laid  over  the 
chimney- top,  (which  I  can  reach  with  my  hand)  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  rain  putting  the  fires  out.  This  good-natured 
man  has  thus  settled  and  removed,  eight  times,  from  one 
degree  of  barbarism  to  another.  The  victuals  are  served 
up  in  a  hand-bason ;  and  thus  one  room  serves  for  parlour, 
kitchen,  hall,  bed-room,  and  pantry.  The  settlers,  too, 
here,  are  without  implements,  but  such  as  they  can  patch 
and  form  together  of  themselves;  they  are  too  distant  and 
expensive  to  buy.  What  they  have  must  cost  nothing,  like 
their  houses,  which  are  raised  in  a  day  by  the  neighbours 
all  meeting  together,  so  going  in  turn  to  serve  each  other, 
as  we  did  yesterday. 

10 th. —  Mr.  Peck,  late  of  Chatteris,  introduced  himself 
to  me  this  day.  Born  and  bred  a  labourer,  he  at  length 
became  a  little  farmer,  on  the  dearest  land  in  Chatteris, 
from  which  he  brought  a  wife,  four  daughters,  one  son, 
a  man,  and  500/.;  all,  the  perfection  of  British  industry. 
Feeling  themselves  likely  to  lose  all,  they  came  here  to 
two  quarter  sections,  costing  145/.  to  be  paid,  in  three 
years,  by  instalments;  so  leaving  355/.  for  stock,  seed  corn, 
and  housekeeping,  until  they  shall  have  cleared  twenty 
acres,  and  raised  produce.  He  begged  I  would  come  and 
dine  with  him,  so  that  I  might  hear  particulars  of  his 


232 


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[Vol.  ii 


former  state,  present  condition  and  prospects,  and  be  able 
to  tell  his  old  neighbours  of  his  comforts  and  [243]  satis¬ 
faction.  “Now,”  says  he,  “I  feel  I  can  live,  and  live 
well,  by  working,  and  without  fretting  and  working,  sev¬ 
enteen,  out  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  all  the  year  round, 
as  I  used  to  do  at  Chatteris.  And  what  is  sweeter  than 
all,  I  feel  I  am  now  the  owner  of  300  acres  of  land,  all  paid 
for,  and  free  from  all  poor-rates,  parsons,  and  tax-gath¬ 
erers,  and  that  I  shall  be  able  to  give  and  leave  each  of 
my  children,  100  acres  of  good  land  to  work  upon,  in¬ 
stead  of  the  highway,  or  Chatteris  work-house.  No  fear 
of  their  committees  now,  nor  of  Ely  jail.” 

It  was  pleasant  to  witness  the  boasting  satisfaction  of 
this  good,  honest  fellow,  and  his  family  of  young  Pecks. 

I  saw  an  old,  dirty,  stinking  Irishman,  very  well  to  do, 
settled  on  a  quarter  section  here,  but  who  says,  were  it 
not  for  his  family,  he  could  do  better  in  Ireland ;  and  there¬ 
fore,  for  the  sake  of  his  family,  he  is  content  to  live  a  little 
longer,  and  die  here.  They  will  be  better  off.  He  came 
to  breakfast  with  us,  and  borrowed  a  razor  to  shave  his 
beard,  for  once,  instead  of  clipping  it  off. 

Meeting  Mr.  Hombrook,80  the  first  settler  here,  I  said 
to  him,  ‘  ‘How  is  it,  that  you,  and  others,  can  do  with  such 
houses  here,  when  you  had  such  comfortable  ones  in 
England.”  “Oh,”  said  he,  “after  our  voyage  and  jour¬ 
ney,  we  are  glad  to  get  into  any  hole,  although  we  know, 
that  in  [244]  England,  they  would  think  them  not  good 
enough  for  stables.” 

On  the  eve  of  this  day,  a  heavy  battering  rain  came, 

80  Saunders  Hombrook  was  a  well-educated  man,  and  had  been  a  woolen 
manufacturer  in  Devizes,  Devonshire,  before  emigrating  to  Indiana  (1819). 
He  built  a  cotton-gin  in  the  Indiana  Settlement,  and  satisfactorily  operated  a 
carding-machine.  He  had  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  property  by  the  date 
of  his  death  (1839). —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ^Journal 


233 


and  put  out  the  fires,  and  cleared  the  air,  and  poured 
water  down  upon  our  beds.  Great  lumps  of  the  clay,  or 
daubing,  stuffed  between  the  logs,  also  kept  falling  on 
our  heads,  and  into  our  beds,  while  it  rained.  We  needed 
an  umbrella. 

Mrs.  Ingle,  a  woman  of  superior  sense  and  feeling, 
states  that  the  prospect  of  seeing  herself,  husband,  and 
children  dependant  on  grandfathers  and  grandmothers, 
and  uncles  and  aunts,  and  thereby  lessening  the  resources 
of  two  distinct  and  worthy  families,  impelled  them  to  emi¬ 
grate.  It  ceased  almost  to  be  matter  of  choice.  Still, 
love  of  country,  former  friends  and  comforts,  from  which 
they  tore  themselves,  is  inextinguishable,  and  frequently 
a  source  of  painful  thought.  Such  a  good,  proud  feeling 
is  very  honourable,  for  with  fair  play  in  England,  it  would 
have  kept  them  there,  and  increased  rather  than  dimin¬ 
ished  the  resources  of  grandfathers,  &c. 

11  th. —  By  a  conversation  with  old  Ferrel,  I  find  he 
began,  thirty  years  ago,  with  nothing  but  his  own  hands. 
Striking  each  hand,  he  said,  “This  is  all  I  had  to  begin 
with;”  and  it  seems,  that  excepting  his  children,  he  has 
little  more  now,  merely  a  quarter  section  just  entered, 
and  a  [245]  log  raised  on  it.  All  seem  very  improvident 
and  extravagant,  the  family  sometimes  eating  four  or  five 
pounds  of  butter  a-day,  the  produce  of  all  their  cows. 
Thus,  with  the  corn-cake  and  bacon,  a  part  of  the  year, 
(for  they  are  almost  always  destitute  of  fresh  meat,  tea 
and  sugar)  is  their  table  supplied. 

Ferrel  is  a  man  of  experience  and  discernment,  and 
states  that  he  would  not  fetch  corn  from  Princeton,  twenty 
miles  off,  of  a  gift,  if  he  could  grow  it,  nor  would  he 
carry  it  to  the  Ohio  for  sale,  because  it  would  not  pay  car¬ 
riage  and  expenses.  When  (if  ever)  they  shall  have  sur- 


234 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


plus  produce,  he  will  give  it  to  pigs  and  cattle,  which  will 
walk  to  market.  He  always,  and  every  where,  had  a 
market  at  the  door,  and  he  always  expects  it,  because  of 
the  number  of  idle  people  who  do  not,  or  cannot  raise 
produce.  He  says,  that  as  Mr.  Ingle  was  no  judge  of 
the  quality  of  land  here,  he  has  chosen  that  which  is  not 
lasting,  namely  black  oak  land.  It  is  kind  and  useful, 
but  after  three  crops,  he  will  see  and  believe,  though  he 
does  not  now,  that  his  old  American  neighbours  know  and 
have  got  the  best  land.  He  thinks  that  a  slave  state, 
with  negroes,  well  chosen,  is  the  best  for  capitalists,  who 
need  not,  or  cannot  work  themselves.  He  still  thinks  that 
hiring  when  you  can,  in  a  free  state  in  the  west,  may  some¬ 
times  pay,  but  as  nearly  all  feel  themselves  masters  in¬ 
stead  of  labourers,  it  is  impossible  to  be  regularly  supplied 
[246]  with  hands.  Kindness,  equality,  persuasion,  and 
good  pay  will  sometimes  effect  it.  He  says,  that  a  man 
is  seldom  more  than  paid  for  improvements. 

Supped  with  a  Mr.  Maidlow,81  a  most  intelligent  and 
respectable  Hampshire  farmer,  a  neighbour  of  Cobbett’s, 
who  left  England  and  his  large  farm,  at  about  16 s.  an 
acre,  because,  from  a  fair  trial,  he  found  it  impossible  to 
farm  without  losing  money,  although  his  wheat-land 

averaged  six  quarters  an  acre,  and  his  landlord,  - 

Jervis,  Esq.,  had  lowered  the  rent  20  per  cent.  He 
brought  a  considerable  capital  and  English  habits  and 
feelings,  the  best  in  the  world,  into  the  neatest  and  clean¬ 
est  log-cabin  that  I  have  seen,  and  is  building  already  a 
second,  larger  and  better,  for  the  preservation  of  all  that 
is  comfortable  and  respectable  in  the  English  character, 

81  James,  Edward,  and  Spencer  Maidlow  came  to  the  settlement  soon  after 
Ingle  (1818).  They  had  been  farmers  in  Hampshire,  and  continued  that  occu¬ 
pation  in  Indiana,  their  descendants  still  being  farmers  in  the  region  at  the 
present  time. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  "Journal 


235 


being  determined  that  neither  himself  nor  family  shall 
barbarize.  This  is  impossible:  all  barbarize  here.  He 
has  bought  six  quarter  sections,  and  hopes  not  to  do  more 
than  keep  his  property,  get  land  for  his  family,  and  live 
and  die  comfortably.  Riches  he  thinks  out  of  the  question 
and  it  is  his  wish  that  the  settlement  should  feel  and  act 
towards  each  other  as  one  family;  the  reverse  of  Illinois, 
in  which  he  intended  to  settle,  and  to  which  he  was  at¬ 
tracted  by  the  books  of  Mr.  Birkbeck,  who  refused  him 
land,  except  at  an  advanced  price,  although  he  had  [247] 
30,000  acres  retained  for  people  in  England,  who  never 
came;  while  those  who  applied,  many  and  respectable 
practical  farmers,  were  denied. 

The  settlers  here  being  all  out  of  wheat-flour  and  Indian 
corn-meal,  Mr.  Ingle,  self,  a  boy,  and  two  children  began, 
at  noon,  to  gather  and  shell  ears  of  corn  for  grinding  into 
meal,  and  finished  two  bushels  by  night,  ready  for  the 
mill,  ten  miles  off,  next  day;  when  a  boy  on  a  horse  started 
with  it  early,  expecting  to  return  on  the  following  Sunday 
morning,  if  not  lost  in  the  woods. 

12 th. —  Visited  Mr.  Potts’s  cabin  and  farm,  400  acres 
of  good  land,  on  which  he  lives,  without  a  woman,  but 
has  a  good  man  from  Stockport  in  Cheshire,  where  they 
both  came  from,  and  thus  they  alone  manage  both  the 
house  and  the  field.  They  have  dug  a  well,  many  feet 
through  the  solid  rock,  without  finding  water.  I  saw  here 
an  experiment  which  I  little  expected  to  see;  the  eighth 
of  an  acre  of  upland  rice;  three  quarts  were  sown  on  it  in 
May,  in  drills,  eighteen  inches  asunder,  and  the  increase 
is  three  bushels.  The  straw  is  like  barley  straw,  and  the 
stubble  rank  and  stout,  and  not  to  be  known  from  oat 
stubble,  on  rich  fen  land,  only  brighter. 

Saw  a  poor  Englishman,  who  some  time  since  broke  his 


236 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


leg,  which  from  want  of  skill  in  the  doctor,  was  not  prop¬ 
erly  set;  he  is  therefore  now  a  cripple  for  life.  This  is  an 
evil  to  which  all  are  exposed.  Many  are  now  dying  at 
Evansville  of  a  [248]  bilious  disorder;  the  doctor  employed 
has  lost  nearly  all  who  applied. 

River  banks  are  here  always  unhealthy.  A  family 
from  Lincolnshire,  attracted  by  fine  land,  on  one  of  the 
prairie  creeks,  where  no  American  would  live  on  any  terms, 
all  fell  sick,  one  died,  and  the  farmer  and  his  wife  both 
lay  unable  to  help  themselves,  or  get  help,  except  from 
one  of  their  little  boys,  who  escaped  the  contagion.  Birk- 
beck  strongly  remonstrated  with  them  against  settling 
there. 

The  farmers  (Americans)  indebted  to  the  store-keepers, 
are  now  forced  to  sell  all  their  corn  at  one  dollar  a  barrel, 
and  buy  it  again  for  their  spring  and  summer  use  at  five 
dollars,  a  fine  profit  for  the  monied  merchant.  Forty 
bushels  per  acre  of  corn  pays  better  (says  the  old  farmer) 
than  wheat,  with  only  twenty  to  twenty-five.  The  land 
here,  though  good,  is  not  first  rate,  or  of  the  most  durable 
quality. 

A  pigeon  roost  is  a  singular  sight  in  thinly  settled  states, 
particularly  in  Tenessee  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  when  the 
roost  extends  over  either  a  portion  of  woodland  or  barrens, 
from  four  to  six  miles  in  circumference.  The  screaming 
noise  they  make  when  thus  roosting  is  heard  at  a  distance 
of  six  miles;  and  when  the  beech-nuts  are  ripe,  they  fly 
200  miles  to  dinner,  in  immense  flocks,  hiding  the  sun  and 
darkening  the  air  like  a  thick  passing  cloud.  They  thus 
travel  400  miles  daily.  They  [249]  roost  on  the  high  forest 
trees,  which  they  cover  in  the  same  manner  as  bees  in 
swarms  cover  a  bush,  being  piled  one  on  the  other,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  topmost  boughs,  which  so  laden,  are  seen 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


23  7 


continually  bending  and  falling  with  their  crashing  weight, 
and  presenting  a  scene  of  confusion  and  destruction,  too 
strange  to  describe,  and  too  dangerous  to  be  approached 
by  either  man  or  beast.  While  the  living  birds  are  gone 
to  their  distant  dinner,  it  is  common  for  man  and  animals 
to  gather  up  or  devour  the  dead,  then  found  in  cartloads. 
When  the  roost  is  among  the  saplings,  on  which  the 
pigeons  alight  without  breaking  them  down,  only  bending 
them  to  the  ground,  the  self-slaughter  is  not  so  great; 
and  at  night,  men,  with  lanterns  and  poles,  approach  and 
beat  them  to  death  without  much  personal  danger.  But 
the  grand  mode  of  taking  them  is  by  setting  fire  to  the 
high  dead  grass,  leaves,  and  shrubs  underneath,  in  a  wide 
blazing  circle,  fired  at  different  parts,  at  the  same  time,  so 
as  soon  to  meet.  Then  down  rush  the  pigeons  in  immense 
numbers,  and  indescribable  confusion,  to  be  roasted  alive, 
and  gathered  up  dead  next  day  from  heaps  two  feet  deep. 

13th. —  Major  Hooker  frequently  shoots,  and  then 
cooks  and  eats  the  huge  wild  cats,  while  Mr.  Birkbeck 
and  his  family  eat  the  rattle-snake,  the  flesh  of  which, 
says  Mr.  Ingle,  is  fine,  sweet,  and  white,  as  an  eel.  Pigs 
also  eat  them  voraciously.  [250]  Armstrong,  a  hunting 
farmer,  this  day  shot  four  deer,  while  he  is  too  idle  to  in¬ 
close  his  corn-field,  which  is  devoured  by  cattle  and  horses, 
save  when  a  boy  watches  it  to  keep  them  off.  This  man 
and  family  then,  though  with  plenty  of  land,  must  buy 
corn,  and  depend  upon  wild  meat  for  the  support  of  his 
idle  family,  who  have  either  a  feast  or  a  famine.  They 
keep  several  cows,  but  as  calves  are  constantly  with  them 
(having  no  separate  inclosure)  and  as  the  family  eat  5lbs. 
of  butter  a  day,  for  three  days  in  the  week,  which  consumes 
all  the  dairy  at  once,  they  go  without  during  the  remainder 
of  the  week.  They  never  sell  any,  though  it  is  25  cents 


238 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


per  pound.  No  fear  of  surplus  produce  from  such 
farmers. 

The  hope,  it  seemed,  of  preserving  and  increasing  his 
property,  was  amongst  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  ruling  motives  for 
emigration.  To  those  to  whom  he  is  known,  he  is  very 
hearty  and  sociable.  To  J.  Ingle  he  said,  “There  are  so 
many  thousand  dollars  in  that  drawer;  they  are  of  no  use 
to  me:  go,  and  take  what  you  like.”  He  is  very  careless 
and  improvident,  like  the  rest  of  his  literary  fraternity, 
and  unconscious  of  what  his  powerful  pen  and  high  repu¬ 
tation  were  effecting  by  exciting  a  strong  feeling  in  favour 
of  emigration,  at  a  moment  when  the  people  of  England 
were  despairing;  so  strong,  indeed,  that  what  he  did  and 
wrote,  burst  in  upon  them  like  a  discovery.  Unconscious 
of  all  this,  he  left  undone  all  which  he  ought  in  common 
policy  to  [251]  have  done.  The  weakest  head  could  see 
that  after  purchasing  land  and  alluring  settlers,  he  ought 
to  have  guarded  against  a  famine  by  providing  for  their 
accommodation,  building  a  few  log-houses,  store-houses, 
and  a  tavern,  and  cultivating  com,  so  that  the  numerous 
callers  in  this  inhospitable  waste  might  have  found  food, 
and  a  shelter,  and  a  person  to  shew  the  land,  which  he 
had  to  resell.  Whereas  a  stable,  a  covered  waggon,  and 
prairie-grass,  formed  their  only  shelter  and  bed;  and  not 
having  food  sufficient  for  himself,  there  was  little  or  none 
for  strangers,  and  no  person  to  shew  the  land,  nor  did 
he  know  himself  where  it  lay.  He  idly  thought  that  if 
they  wished  land  they  would  find  it  themselves;  and  being 
in  expectation  of  many  such  families  from  England,  he 
thought  he  had  no  land  to  spare,  so  that  the  real  practical 
farmers  of  both  worlds  who  called,  turned  away  disgusted 
to  other  and  better  neighbourhoods,  the  Kaskaskv,  and 
Missouri,  and  Red  River,  where  more  important  settle- 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


239 


ments  are  rising.  He,  therefore,  as  the  rich  families  did 
not  come,  has  no  real  farmers  in  his  settlement,  and  hoped 
J.  Ingle,  being  one,  would  come  and  make  one  solitary 
farmer  amongst  them.  Trusting  too,  to  his  own  judg¬ 
ment,  he  has  settled  down  on  and  entered  indiscriminately 
good  and  bad  land,  much  of  which  will  never  be  worth 
any  thing,  being  wet,  marshy,  spongy,  on  a  stratum  of 
unporous  clay,  over  which  pestilential  fogs  rise  and  hang 
continually.  [252]  A  United  States’  surveyor  would,  for 
a  few  dollars,  have  prevented  such  a  choice.  Common 
policy  and  prudence,  too,  ought  to  have  induced  him  to 
reduce  his  fine  farming  theory  into  practice,  otherwise  it 
seemed  as  if  intended  merely  to  deceive  others.  Even 
if  he  should,  (as  he  now  says)  lose  by  it,  or  could  buy 
produce  cheaper  than  he  could  raise  it,  he  still  ought  not 
so  to  buy  it,  but  set  an  example  of  farming.  For  of  what 
use  is  land,  if  it  is  not  worth  cultivating  ? 

As  a  proof  of  his  improvident  conduct,  and  bad  man¬ 
agement,  his  thirteen  horses  were  all  miserably  poor  and 
unfit  for  use,  and  when  any  were  wanted,  he  would  say 
to  a  hunter,  “Here’s  five  dollars  for  you,  if  you  find  and 
drive  up  the  horses;”  for  he  had  no  inclosure.  The  man 
knew  where  they  were,  and  soon  found  them  and  received 
the  fee;  none  then  were  fit  for  use.  “Oh!  don’t  tease  me 
about  horses.” 

This  evening,  J.  Ingle  sat  down  by  the  fire,  and  cleaned 
the  shoes  of  all  the  family,  which  he  does  every  week. 

Sunday ,  14 th. —  Called  on  a  Caledonian  Yankee  farmer? 
busy  at  work  in  his  garden,  who  said  he  had  no  Sunday 
in  his  week,  but  would  buy  one  if  he  could.  He  is  a 
quarter-section  man,  without  wife  or  child,  shoes  or  hose. 

After  a  meeting  of  16  persons  of  this  little  settlement, 
in  the  log-house  of  my  friend,  who  read  a  sermon  and 


240 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


prayed  for  all  present,  I  visited  Mr.  [253]  Hornbrook’s, 
a  respectable  English  family  from  Devonshire,  on  a  good 
quantity  of  land,  living  in  two  or  three  log-cabins. 

Amongst  the  inducements  of  the  Flower  family  to  emi¬ 
grate,  may  be  reckoned  the  probability  of  their  wasting 
all  their  property  by  farming  their  own  estate,  about  500 
or  600  acres  at  Marsden.  It  was  badly  farmed,  and  the 
Merino  trade  failed,  which  was  Mr.  Flower’s  hobbv- 
horse;  and  seeing  his  favourite  son  was  determined  to  live 
in  America,  emigration  now  ceased  to  be  a  matter  of 
choice.  They  intended  to  settle  in  the  east.  G.  Flower, 
who  brought  a  letter  from  the  celebrated  Marquis  de  la 
Fayette  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  whom  he  visited,  bought  an 
estate  of  500  acres  at  10  dollars  an  acre,  near  Jefferson’s, 
where  they  were  to  have  lived;  but,  as  Mr.  Birkbeck  could 
not  approve  it,  on  account  of  slavery,  it  was  abandoned.82 

15  th. —  The  English  settlement  in  Indiana ,  up  to  this 
time,  contains  12,800  acres  entered,  and  in  possession 
of  actual  settlers,  53  families  having  capital  to  the  amount 
of  80,000  dollars. 

Dolls.  Cents. 

Expenses  of  clearing  and  inclosing  an  acre  of  land,  ready 
for  planting,  6J  dollars;  ditto  of  planting,  with  four 
ploughings  and  four  hoeings,  and  harvesting,  and  stack¬ 
ing  for  market,  at  your  own  door,  six  dollars  an  acre;  so 


making,  the  first  year,  an  acre  cost . 12  50 

[254]  Second  year,  wheat  1 J  bushel  seed  .....  1  50 

Ploughing  once,  75  cents;  clearing  dead  timber,  breaking 

up  stumps,  and  hoeing  sprouts,  one  dollar  50  cents  .  2  25 

Reaping  i£  bushel  an  acre,  or  in  cash . 10 

Carting,  threshing,  &c . 3  50 

Cost  of  one  acre,  in  two  years .  20  75 


82  Consult  the  preface  to  volume  x  of  our  series,  concerning  Birkbeck’s  assist 
ance  to  the  antislavery  cause  in  Illinois. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


241 


Dolls.  Cents. 

Produce  of  an  acre  of  Indian  corn,  35  bushels,  at  50  cents, 


the  first  year . .  17  50 

Ditto,  wheat,  25  bushels,  at  75  cents,  the  second  year  .  .  18  75 


Value  of  the  acre,  in  two  years . 36  25 

Deduct  cost .  20  75 


Profit  15  50 


In  the  next  two  years,  the  two  acres  will  cost  less  by 
8  dollars  75  cents,  which,  added  to  the  15  dollars  50 
cents,  makes  the  net  profit  on  two  acres  24  dollars  25 
cents,  besides  the  increased  value  of  the  land. 

The  proper  expenses  of  a  farmer,  arriving  with  a  capital 
of  2,000  dollars,  that  is  to  say,  his  necessary  expenses  in 
establishing  himself  and  family  the  first  year : 


[255]  Dolls. 


First  year. —  Entry  of  half  section,  or  320  acres  of  land  .  .  160 

House  and  stable,  80  dollars;  smoke-house,  pigstye,  and  hen¬ 
house,  40  dollars . 120 

Two  horses,  good,  160  dollars;  two  ploughs  and  harness,  40 

dollars . 200 

Four  axes,  four  hoes,  16  dollars;  waggon,  100  dollars;  harrows, 

12  dollars . 128 

Spades,  shovels,  six  dollars;  two  cows,  36  dollars;  four  sows 

in  pig,  20  dollars .  62 

Corn  crib  and  barn .  60 

Clearing  20  acres  of  land  first  year,  foot  and  under,  and  fenced 

well  . 130 

Ploughing,  planting,  hoeing,  and  turning  .  .  ...  .  .  130 


990 

Twelve  months’  maintenance  of  family . 250 


1,240 


242 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


So  leaving  him  at  harvest  800  dollars  of  his  2,000  dol¬ 
lars  for  the  uses  of  the  coming  year;  but  still,  this  money 
will  not  be  wanted,  as  the  farm  will  now  maintain  itself 
and  family;  the  money  then  should  be  at  use. 

“The  foregoing  statements,”  says  Mr.  Ingle,  “I  will 
swear  are  correct,  and  they  are  in  part  reduced  to  practice 
this  year.”  I  think,  however,  that  the  money  should  be 
at  command  for  his  own  [256]  use,  as  twenty  acres  more 
clearing,  &c.  unless  he  does  most  of  it  himself,  (which  he 
ought  to  do)  wants  260  dollars  the  second  year.  All  the 
labour,  however,  is  to  be  done  the  first  year  by  hired  hands, 
if  they  can  be  found,  and,  if  possible,  to  be  done  at  a  price 
per  acre,  not  by  the  day. 

Mr.  Ingle  insists  on  it  that  none  of  the  old  funds  will 
be  wanted  the  second  year,  but  that  the  farm  will  main¬ 
tain  itself  and  family;  as  the  pigs  will  supply  plenty  of 
bacon  to  eat  and  some  to  sell,  besides  the  surplus  of  the 
first  crop  of  corn,  which  will  supply  some  money;  but 
the  second  year,  the  work  upon  the  farm  must  be  princi¬ 
pally  done  by  himself  and  family. 

He  thinks  that  no  more  land  should  be  under  cultiva¬ 
tion  and  fence,  (say  about  forty  or  fifty,  and  thirty  acres 
of  grass)  than  the  farmer  can  manage  without  hiring, 
which,  at  present,  it  is  impossible  to  do  with  any  thing 
like  comfortable  benefit  and  English  regularity.  He  will 
not  be  so  grasping  as  in  England.  A  little  will  satisfy 
him;  he  is  not  so  disposed  to  disquiet  himself  in  vain. 
The  habits  and  examples  of  the  country  will  at  length 
be  imperceptibly  followed. 

New  settlers  in  this  state,  men,  women,  and  children, 
seem  all  exposed  to  an  eruption,  ten  times  worse  than 
the  itch,  inasmuch  as  it  itches  more,  runs  all  over  the 
body,  crusting  and  festering  the  hands  and  other  parts, 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


243 


and  is  not  to  be  [257]  cured  by  the  common  treatment 
for  the  itch,  which  has  been  tried  without  effect,  and  one 
instance  has  been  known,  where  the  sulphur  and  grease 
killed  the  patient  by  obstructing  perspiration,  and  driving 
in  the  eruption.  The  doctors  know  of  no  remedy,  and 
suffer  it  to  take  its  tedious  course.  It  comes  in  the  spring 
and  fall,  but  not  to  the  same  person,  it  is  hoped,  more 
than  once.  It  is  attributed  to  the  air,  soil,  and  climate. 
Mr.  Ingle’s  family  are  all  suffering  severely  under  it. 
Although  the  climate  seems  finer  here  than  in  the  east, 
more  humid  and  temperate,  yet  the  bite  of  every  insect 
and  reptile,  however  insignificant,  is  highly  poisonous; 
an  evil  not  to  be  remedied  at  present.  New  comers  and 
fresh  flesh  suffer  most,  and  sometimes  much  inflammation 
is  caused;  but  when  the  land  becomes  more  cleared,  it  is 
hoped  this  scourge  will  be  less  afflictive. 

Fine  yeast :  Take  a  small  handful,  or  a  good  nip  of  hops, 
and  boil  them  ten  minutes,  in  one  quart  of  water,  then 
strain  away  the  hops,  and  pour  the  liquor  into  a  quantity 
of  flour,  sufficient  to  give  the  consistency  of  batter  well 
beaten;  a  tea-cup  full,  or  something  less  than  the  usual 
quantity  of  brewer’s  yeast,  is  sufficient  for  a  half-stone 
loaf;  two  spoonfuls  of  brewer’s  yeast  to  work  the  first 
making;  then,  ever  after,  a  little  of  the  last  made;  the 
yeast  to  be  put  to  it  while  milk-warm,  and  kept  so  until 
it  ferments,  which  it  generally  does  in  summer  very  soon, 
and  in  winter  in  a  day,  but  it  [258]  must  not  be  used  until 
it  does  ferment.  In  winter  it  keeps  one  month,  in  summer 
(American)  one  week,  two  in  England,  and  is  a  fine  saving 
and  a  great  convenience. 

16 th. —  A  poor  emigrant  farmer  from  Devonshire, 
called  here  in  search  of  a  home.  His  family,  yet  on  the 
river,  had  been  nine  weeks  in  a  stinking  ark,  coming  from 


244 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


Pittsburgh,  and  ever  since  April  last  in  getting  from  Eng¬ 
land,  by  way  of  Canada,  hither.  I  asked  him  if  he  re¬ 
pented  leaving  England.  “I  do,”  said  he,  “a  good  deal, 
and  so  does  my  poor  wife;”  and  then  he  burst  into  tears. 
The  tears  of  a  man  are  hard-wrung  drops.  “You  were 
getting,  I  suppose,  a  comfortable  living  in  England?” 
“Oh  no!  taxes,  tithes,  rates,  &c.”  “What  money  did 
you  bring  away  ?”  ‘  ‘But  a  little,  and  besides  my  passage 

to  Canada,  where  I  could  have  had  ioo  acres  for  nothing, 
I  have  spent  50/.  in  getting  to  this  western  country.  The 
captain  told  me  that  Canada  was  my  best  way,  and  I  have 
now  but  little  left.  ’  ’  He  thought  of  going  to  the  Prairie. 
I  told  him  he  had  better  settle  here.  They  of  the  Prairie 
were  proud,  and  wanted  only  high-bred  English.  I  en¬ 
couraged  this  poor,  desponding,  ill-advised,  weak  man 
to  hope  for  better  times  in  this  good  land,  where  he  said 
he  was  willing  to  labour. 

Taverns  are  always  charitable  to  moneyless  travellers, 
if  they  are  sure  of  their  poverty,  feeding  them  gratis  as 
they  pass  along,  as  instanced  in  a  [259]  moneyless  female, 
and  a  sick  man  whom  I  met  in  the  stage  coming  here. 
The  Scots  frequently  plead  poverty,  and  get  fed  gratis, 
while  their  pockets  are  full  of  dollars. 

Mr.  J.  Ingle  and  maid  started  this  morning,  with  a 
waggon,  to  Princeton,  for  boards,  though  living  in  a  forest 
full  of  boards  when  sawn.  He  drove  the  waggon  himself, 
and  she  was  to  get  groceries  and  butter,  if  she  could  get 
it  under  twenty-five  cents  per  lb.  Thus,  for  two  days, 
we  were  left  without  water,  or  an  axe  to  hew  firewood,  or 
any  person  to  milk  and  feed  a  kicking  cow  and  pigs. 

17 th. —  A  stranger  called  and  brushed  out  of  the  rain. 
He  said  he  was  short  of  money,  and  came  ten  miles  to 
sell  two  pigs,  fat,  weighing  4oolbs.  the  two,  but  was  not 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  "Journal 


245 


able  to  sell  them  at  more  than  four  dollars  a  cwt. ;  he  could 
not  afford  to  make  pork  at  that  price.  No  pigs  fat  this 
year  at  mast ,  only  passable  pork;  but  when  quite  fat  they 
must  have  corn  for  two  or  three  weeks  to  harden  them, 
though  they  get  no  fatter,  or  else  the  bacon  would  drip 
all  summer,  and  when  boiled,  the  fat  become  oil  and  run 
out  into  the  water.  He  has  seventeen  acres  of  corn;  a 
bad  crop,  not  enough  for  his  own  use.  Few  farmers  are 
ever  able  to  hire  labourers,  though  he  thinks  it  would 
answer  if  they  could;  still  it  is  best  to  do  all  the  work  by 
one’s-self  or  family. 

I  went  to  turn  the  grindstone  for  J.  Ingle’s  carpenter, 
at  Mr.  Maidlow’s,  one  mile  and  a  half  [260]  off.  Went 
over  his  fine  farm,  that  is  to  be.  I  think  it  is  the  best  I 
have  seen  in  this  settlement.  On  it  I  saw  a  lick  of  singu¬ 
lar  size,  extending  over  nearly  half  an  acre  of  land,  all 
excavated  three  feet,  that  is  to  say,  licked  away,  and  eaten, 
by  buffaloes,  deer,  and  other  wild  animals.  It  has  the 
appearance  of  a  large  pond  dried.  The  earth  is  soft,  salt, 
and  sulphurous,  and  they  still  resort  to  it.  Mr.  Maidlow 
thinks  that  Cobbett  is  much  nearer  the  truth  than  Birk- 
beck,  in  his  account  of  the  west.  Had  he  now  the  chance 
of  choosing,  he  would  purchase,  in  the  east,  improvements 
at  eighteen  dollars  an  acre,  like  the  farm  of  Mr.  Long,  as 
he  finds  that  making  improvements  in  the  west  costs 
much  money.  He  believes  Birkbeck  is  spending  money 
fast.  He  does  not  think  that  capital  employed  in  farming 
here  will  answer,  or  that  cultivation  will  pay,  if  done  by 
hired  labour.  Out  of  900  acres,  (all  he  intends  buying) 
he  means  to  cultivate  and  graze  only  about  100  acres; 
no  more  than  they  can  manage  of  themselves.  He  does 
not  expect  to  increase  his  capital,  but  by  the  increase 
in  value  of  land.  He  means  to  build  a  mill,  and  plant  a 


246 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


large  orchard;  is  digging  a  well,  and  finds  some  fine  good 
burning  coal  in  it,  and  a  vast  mine  of  rich  blue  marl. 
The  Missouri,  says  he,  is  full  of  all  the  rich  resources  of 
nature ;  land,  very  fine.  Here  is  a  large  family  of  men,  and 
Mrs.  Maidlow  and  daughter  are  drudges  to  the  house, 
cooking,  scouring,  and  scrubbing,  continually.  [261]  A 
young  lady  cleaning  knives !  How  horrid ! ! 

1 8th. —  A  few  months  since,  J.  Ingle  agreed  with  a 
neighbouring  Kentuckyan  hunter,  to  build  him  a  log- 
house,  to  be  begun  and  finished  in  a  given  time.  The 
fellow  was  procrastinating,  and  too  idle  to  begin,  yet  for 
ever  promising.  At  length  Mr.  Ingle  told  him,  that  unless 
he  began  on  a  certain  day,  at  noon,  at  latest,  the  contract 
should  be  void,  and  others  should  begin  it.  He  came  on 
the  day  mentioned,  but  not  until  six  in  the  evening,  when 
others  had  begun  the  job.  Greatly  enraged,  he  said,  he 
had  come,  and  would  begin  in  spite  of  any  body.  Mr. 
Ingle  said  he  should  never  touch  it.  He  said  he  would, 
or  have  Mr.  Ingle’s  blood;  4 ‘and  to-morrow  morn,  I  will 
come  with  men,  and  twenty  rifles,  and  I  will  have  your 
life,  or  you  shall  have  mine.”  Mr.  Ingle  thought  of  hav¬ 
ing  recourse  to  the  civil  power,  which  is  very  distant,  inso¬ 
much  that  the  people  speak  and  seem  as  if  they  were 
without  a  government,  and  name  it  only  as  a  bugbear. 

J.  Ingle  returned  this  evening  with  his  poplar  boards, 
not  worth  carriage,  and  without  being  able  to  buy  any  tea, 
sugar,  butter,  cheese,  or  apples,  for  his  use,  at  Princeton, 
though  a  county  town,  having  a  fine  store  out  of  stock, 
which  it  receives  only  once  a-year. 

19 th. —  A  parson,  with  his  wife,  and  sixty  others,  about 
eighteen  months  ago,  came  from  the  [262]  east,  as  settlers, 
to  the  big  prairie  of  Illinois;  in  which,  during  the  sickly 
season,  last  fall,  an  eighth  of  their  number  died  in  six 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


247 


weeks.  Having  lost  his  wife  amongst  the  rest,  he  has 
cleared  out,  and  lives  by  his  itinerant  ministrations. 

It  is  useless  to  fence  much  more  land  than  is  cleared, 
because,  until  the  country  is  cleared  round  about,  the 
autumnal  fires  would  destroy  the  fences.  The  cattle, 
therefore,  must  range  in  the  woods,  until  some  small 
inclosures,  for  pasture,  can  be  made.  Through  the  sum¬ 
mer,  both  night  and  day,  but  mostly  in  the  night,  the  mos¬ 
quitoes,  both  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  but  chiefly  in  the 
latter,  were,  in  their  attacks,  almost  sufficient  to  drive 
English  settlers  out.  If  a  man  had  been  lashed  naked  to 
a  post,  he  must  have  been  stung  to  death,  or  unto  mad¬ 
ness.  At  Sandersville,  says  J.  Ingle,  they  blinded  several 
persons. 

The  Cherokee  nation83  once  wishing  to  war  against  the 
United  States,  sent  their  favourite  chief,  old  Double-head , 
to  Philadelphia,  to  sound  parties,  and  return  with  his 
opinion  either  for  or  against  it.  “Oh,”  said  he,  on  his 
return,  “we  must  not  war;  I  have  seen  more  white  men 
in  one  town,  than  would  be  sufficient  to  eat  all  the  Indians, 
if  made  into  a  pie.”  They  have  never  since  thought  of 
war,  but  what  few  remain,  are  friendly  and  civilized,  and 
fight  for  Uncle  Sam.  Some  cultivate  their  land,  and  pos¬ 
sess  negroes. 

20 th. —  At  nine  this  morning,  after  a  fortnight’s  [263] 
stay  at  Sandersville,  I  mounted  the  neck  of  an  ill  mis¬ 
shapen,  dull,  stumbling  beast,  called  a  horse,  the  best  that 
friendship  and  good-will  could  procure,  for  conveying  me, 
in  company  with  J.  Ingle,  to  the  state  of  Illinois,  by  way 
of  the  far-famed  Harmony.  I  rode,  in  fear,  all  day, 
through  woods  and  wilds;  sometimes  almost  trackless. 

83  For  the  Cherokee  Indians,  see  Weiser’s  Journal,  volume  i  of  our  series, 
note  33. —  Ed. 


248 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


We  were  lost  twice.  The  people  seem  to  know  nothing 
of  time,  and  distance  of  places  from  each  other;  some  tell¬ 
ing  us  it  was  ten,  when  it  was  two,  and  three,  when  it  was 
twelve  o’clock;  and  as  to  distance,  twenty  when  it  was 
twenty-seven,  and  fifteen,  when  it  was  ten  miles  to  Har¬ 
mony.  I  expected  to  camp  out  all  night,  with  no  means 
of  getting  a  fire.  I  saw  nothing  but  good  land,  and  (where 
any)  fine  corn;  but  no  comfortable  dwellings;  all,  misera¬ 
ble  little  log-holes,  having  neither  springs  nor  mill-streams. 
We  were  very  courteously  shewn  our  way  by  a  worshipful 
magistrate  of  Indiana,  at  work  by  the  road  side,  hewing 
and  splitting  wood. 

We  rested,  twenty  minutes,  at  the  log  of  one  of  Cobbett’s 
Yankee  farmers,  with  a  fine  family  of  boys,  big  enough  for 
men,  and  handsome,  sprightly,  and  free-looking,  as  ever 
walked  the  earth.  I  would  have  given  something  for  a 
picture  of  them,  being  self-taught  shoemakers,  butchers, 
wheelwrights,  carpenters,  and  what  not,  and  having 
cleared,  from  320  acres,  60  acres,  and  cropped  them  twice 
in  two  years.  The  mother  sat,  smoking  her  pipe,  fat  and 
easy.  The  father  is  ready  to  sell  [264]  out  at  1,200  dollars ; 
a  fair  price,  says  Mr.  Ingle.  They  think  well  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  but  were  able  to  grow  more  wheat  per  acre  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania;  there,  thirty-four,  here,  twenty  to  twenty-four 
bushels  an  acre;  they  can  have  seventy-five  cents  at  home, 
or  carrying  it  twenty  miles  or  less,  one  dollar  a  bushel,  for 
wheat.  The  old  fellow  says  that  the  Harmonites  do  their 
business  of  all  kinds  better  than  any  body  else. 

I  saw,  on  the  Harmony  lands  and  fields,  of  great  size, 
wheat,  finer  and  thicker,  planted  with  two  bushels,  than 
in  England  with  three  and  a  half  bushels  per  acre.  The 
fields,  however,  lie  in  a  vale  of  prodigious  richness. 

I  reached  Harmony  at  dusk,  and  found  a  large  and 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


249 


comfortable  brick  tavern,  the  best  and  cleanest  which  I 
have  seen  in  Indiana,  and  slept  in  a  good,  clean  bed-room, 
four  beds  in  a  room,  one  in  each  corner;  but  found  bad 
beef,  though  good  bread,  and  high  charges,  one  dollar, 
five  cents,  each. 

A  stranger  present,  asked  our  landlord  of  what  religion 
were  the  community  of  Harmony.  In  broken  English, 
and  rather  crossly,  he  replied,  “Dat’s  no  matter;  they  are 
all  a  satisfied  people.”  The  spell,  or  secret,  by  which 
these  people  are  held  in  voluntary  slavery,  is  not  to  be 
known  or  fathomed  by  inquiry.  We  asked  if  strangers 
were  permitted  to  go  to  their  church  to-morrow.  “No,” 
was  the  answer.  This  is  unprecedented  in  the  civilized 
world. 

[265]  Sunday ,  21  st. —  At  Harmony  till  ten  o’clock,  when 
we  were  told,  ‘  ‘we  must  then  depart,  or  stay  until  after  the 
morning  service,”  which  commences  at  ten  o’clock.  At 
the  moment  the  bells  began  chiming,  the  people,  one  and 
all,  from  every  quarter,  hurry  into  their  fine  church  like 
frighted  doves  to  their  windows;  the  street  leading  to  the 
temple  seems  filled  in  a  minute,  and  in  less  than  ten 
minutes,  all  this  large  congregation,  1,000  men,  women, 
and  children,  all  who  can  walk  or  ride,  are  in  the  church, 
the  males  entering  in  at  the  side,  the  females  at  the  tower, 
and  separately  seated.  Then  enters  the  old  High  Priest, 
Mr.  Rapp,84  of  about  eighty,  straight  and  active  as  his 
adopted  son,  Frederick,  who  walks  behind  him.  The 
old  man’s  wife  and  daughters  enter  with  the  crowd,  from 


his  fine  house,  which  looks  as  if  the  people  who  built  it  for 
him,  thought  nothing  too  good  for  him.  This  people  are 
never  seen  in  idle  groups;  all  is  moving  industry;  no  kind 

84  For  a  short  sketch  of  George  Rapp,  see  Hulme’s  Journal ,  volume  x  of  our 
series,  note  25. —  Ed 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


250 


of  idling;  no  time  for  it.  Religious  service  takes  place 
three  times  every  day.  They  must  be  in  the  chains  of 
superstition,  though  Rapp  professes  to  govern  them  only 
by  the  Bible,  and  they  certainly  seem  the  perfection  of 
obedience  and  morality.  People  who  have  left  them  say, 
that  Rapp  preaches,  that  if  they  quit  the  society,  they  will 
be  damned,  for  his  way  is  the  only  way  to  Heaven.  He 
does  much  by  signs,  and  by  an  impressive  manner,  stretch¬ 
ing  out  his  arm,  which,  he  says,  is  the  arm  of  God,  [266] 
and  that  they  must  obey  it;  and  that  when  he  dies,  his 
spirit  will  descend  unto  his  son  Fred.  The  people  appear 
saturnine,  and  neither  very  cleanly  nor  very  dirty.  They 
are  dressed  much  alike,  and  look  rather  shabby,  just  as 
working  folk  in  general  look.  None  are  genteel.  The 
women  are  intentionally  disfigured  and  made  as  ugly  as  it 
is  possible  for  art  to  make  them,  having  their  hair  combed 
straight  up  behind  and  before,  so  that  the  temples  are 
bared,  and  a  little  skullcap,  or  black  crape  bandage,  across 
the  crown,  and  tied  under  the  chin.  This  forms  their  onlv 
head-dress. 

I  rode  round  the  town,  which  will  soon  be  the  best  and 
first  in  the  western  country.  At  present,  the  dwellings, 
with  the  exception  of  Rapp’s,  and  the  stores  and  taverns, 
are  all  log-houses,  with  a  cow-house  and  other  conve¬ 
niences.  One  is  given  to  each  family,  and  a  fine  cow,  and 
nice  garden;  other  necessaries  are  shared  in  common. 
Their  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  are  all  in  one  stable;  herds 
and  flocks  are  folded  every  night,  in  comfortable  sheds, 
particularly  an  immensely  large  flock  of  Merino  sheep; 
and  so  secured  from  the  waives.  They  have  a  fine  vine¬ 
yard  in  the  vale,  and  on  the  hills  around,  which  are  as 
beautiful  as  if  formed  by  art  to  adorn  the  town.  Not  a 
spot  but  bears  the  most  luxuriant  vines,  from  which  they 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ^Journal 


25l 


make  excellent  wine.  Their  orchards,  too,  are  of  un¬ 
common  size  and  fertility;  and  in  a  large  pleasure  [267] 
garden  is  a  curious  labyrinth,  out  of  which  none  but  those 
who  formed  it,  or  are  well  acquainted  with  it,  can  find 
their  way. 

Their  granary  is  superb  and  large,  and  the  bams  and 
farm-yards  are  singularly  capacious,  as  well  as  their  cloth 
and  other  manufactories.  It  is  the  wise  policy  of  this 
people  to  buy  nothing  which  it  is  possible  for  them  to  make 
or  raise,  and  their  industry  and  ingenuity  are  irresistible. 
They  have  much  to  sell,  at  their  own  price,  of  almost  every 
thing  domestic  and  foreign.  They  cannot  make  shoes 
half  so  fast  as  they  could  sell  them.  It  is  not  doubted  but 
they  are  immensely  rich,  beginning  in  Pennsylvania  with 
only  4,000/.,  and  being  now  worth  500,000 /.  They  keep 
no  accounts,  and  all  business  is  done  and  every  thing  pos¬ 
sessed  in  Frederick  Rapp’s  name.  They  have  been  in  this 
Harmony  five  years  only;  they  bought  a  huge  territory  of 
the  richest  land,  which  is  all  paid  for,  and  keep  an  immense 
quantity  in  high  cultivation,  and  continue  to  buy  out  bor¬ 
dering  settlers,  thus  ever  enlarging  their  boundaries. 
An  American  widower,  with  ten  children,  joined  them 
some  time  ago,  in  distress  for  his  children;  all  are  well 
off  now. 

They  work  very  gently,  but  constantly.  At  eleven  I 
left  Harmony,  wishing  to  see  more  of  this  singular  com¬ 
munity.  Rapp  came  hither  a  poor,  unlettered  weaver 
from  Germany. 

I  entered  the  woods  again,  on  the  banks  of  the  fine 
river,  the  Big  Wabash,  wider  than  the  Thames  [268]  at 
London.  There  are  no  regular  roads;  but,  over  creeks 
and  swamps,  and  the  Black  River,  now  dry,  we  took  our 
way,  and  met  six  bastard  Indian-like  horsemen,  drinking 


252 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


whiskey  in  the  woods,  looking  wild  and  jovial,  dressed  in 
sky-blue  and  scarlet.  Crossed  the  Big  river  into  Illinois, 
after  being  lost  one  hour.  Started  a  fine  buck,  and  rode 
along  rich  bottom  land,  ten  feet  deep  of  water,  in  winter, 
and  passed  some  smoke-dried  women  and  children. 

At  four,  p.  m.,  I  reached  the  English  prairie,  presenting 
a  wide,  rusty,  black  prospect,  the  fire  having  passed  over 
it.  I  met  Wood  and  Shepherd,  the  only  two  farmer-like 
men;  saw  no  corn-fields;  nothing  done;  rode  into  Albion 
at  dusk,  and  called  on  Speculator  Pugsley  and  Mr.  E.  P. 
Fordham,85  who  never  means  to  return  to  England,  except 
rich  or  to  be  rich.  If  he  fails  here,  he  will  turn  hunter 
and  live  by  his  rifle  on  the  frontiers.  I  supped  and  went 
to  bed  in  a  hog-stye  of  a  room,  containing  four  filthy  beds 
and  eight  mean  persons;  the  sheets  stinking  and  dirty; 
scarcity  of  water  is,  I  suppose,  the  cause.  The  beds  lie  on 
boards,  not  cords,  and  are  so  hard  that  I  could  not  sleep. 
Three  in  one  bed,  all  filth,  no  comfort,  and  yet  this  is 
an  English  tavern;  no  whiskey,  no  milk,  and  vile  tea,  in 
this  land  of  prairies. 

22 nd. —  At  sun-rise  I  rose  from  our  filthy  nest.  Mr. 
Simpkins,  a  dirty  idle  wife,  with  sons  and  daughters,  late 
of  Baldock,  Herts,  are  the  managers  of  this  prairie  tavern. 
A  better  one  of  brick  [269]  is  building  by  Mr.  R.  Flower, 
who  owns  the  former,  from  which  Simpkins  is  about 
removing  to  Evansville,  because  he  and  family,  though  all 
poor,  are  above  being  at  the  beck  and  call  of  every  body, 

85  William  Wood,  a  small  farmer  of  Wormswold,  Leicestershire,  settled  with 
his  two  sons  on  English  Prairie  (1819);  his  wife  had  died  on  the  journey  down 
the  Ohio  River.  Thomas  Shepherd,  his  wife,  two  sons,  and  a  daughter  came 
to  Illinois  with  Richard  Flower,  his  family  having  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Flower  family  for  three  generations.  Elias  P.  Fordham  was  a  cousin  of  George 
Flower,  journeying  with  him  to  English  Prairie  in  1818.  He  surveyed  and 
platted  the  town  of  Albion,  where  he  kept  a  store  for  several  years. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


253 


and  pleasing  nobody;  and  besides  (says  Simpkins) 
the  great  folks  are  too  aristocratical  for  me,  and 
endeavour  to  oppress  their  countrymen.  This,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  is  not  true.  Simpkins,  and  better  folks  than 
he,  need  not  come  here,  if  they  are  unwilling  to  put 
their  shoulders  to  the  yoke.  I  walked  round  Albion. 
It  contains  one  house  only,  and  about  ten  or  twelve 
log-cabins,  full  of  degenerating  English  mechanics,  too 
idle  to  work,  and  above  every  thing,  but  eating,  drink¬ 
ing,  brawling,  and  fighting.  The  streets  and  paths  are 
almost  impassable  with  roots  and  stumps,  and  in  front 
of  every  door  is  a  stinking  puddle,  formed  by  throwing  out 
wash  and  dirty  water.  A  good  market-house,  and  a  public 
library,  is  at  the  end,  in  which  a  kind  of  Unitarian  worship 
is  held  on  a  Sunday,  when  a  sermon  and  the  church  service 
purified  is  read  by  any  one  who  pleases.  The  books  are 
donations  from  the  Flower  family  and  their  friends  in  Eng¬ 
land.  By  sending  donations,  people  become  honorary 
members,  and  Mrs.  Flower  has,  by  all  legal  means,  secured 
perpetuity  to  this  institution,  which  few  expect  to  find  in 
this  distant  wilderness. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Doctor  Pugsley,  late  of  London,  live  in 
the  only  house,  which,  if  it  had  a  servant,  [270]  would  boast 
of  English  comforts,  politeness,  and  hospitality.  She  sighs 
to  revisit  England,  where  she  might  see  her  friends,  and  rest 
her  delicate  hands,  now  destined  to  all  kind  of  drudgery. 
He  has  purchased  land  largely,  on  speculation,  without 
intending  to  cultivate  any,  and  offers  it  at  three  dollars  an 
acre,  or  at  a  corn  rent.  Much  of  the  land  has  been  thus 
purchased  by  capitalists  here,  and  is  offered  again  on 
these  terms,  because  the  Kentucky  speculators,  it  is  said, 
would  otherwise  have  bought  all  up  and  charged  more  for 
it,  and  because  the  profit  demanded,  is  thought  to  be  rea- 


254 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  1 1 


sonable.  But  what  is  the  effect  ?  That  of  driving  away 
good  little  practical  farmers  to  other  neighbourhoods.  I 
was  introduced  to  the  young  Birkbecks,  riding  through 
Albion,  and  was  struck  by  their  polished  and  prepossessing 
appearance.  I  was  introduced  also  to  R.  Flower,  Esq., 
and  engaged  to  dine  with  him  and  his  family,  at  their 
house  in  the  prairie.  This  gentleman  much  resembles  the 
celebrated  Benjamin  Flower,  though  of  a  finer  person;  but 
is  fast  fading  away.86  The  shock  which  he  received  by  the 
death  of  a  favorite  son,  a  victim  to  the  climate,  has,  together 
with  some  disappointments,  greatly  impaired  the  vigorous 
mind  and  body  of  this  noble  man,  and  true  fearless  friend 
of  liberty  all  over  the  world.  Mr.  G.  Flower  lives  in  the 
completest  log-cabin  I  have  ever  seen,  near  his  father. 
It  contains  six  or  seven  rooms,  with  other  needful  buildings, 
and  as  a  [271]  log-establishment,  I  will  venture  to  say, 
possesses  more  comfort  and  elegance  than  any  ever  seen 
in  America.  It  is  a  model  for  all  future  log-builders. 
This  gentleman  is  very  polite,  mild,  gentle,  and  unassum¬ 
ing;  trying  scenes  have  made  him  rather  silent  and  sombre. 
His  lady  seems  the  happiest  and  most  elegant  female  I 
have  seen,  and  perfectly  suited  to  her  present  or  any  situa¬ 
tion,  being  neither  above  the  cottage  nor  below  the  palace. 
Well,  indeed,  might  four  gentlemen  contend  for  the  prize ! 

‘  ‘  If  some  few  failings  to  her  portion  fall, 

Look  in  her  face  and  you’ll  forget  them  all.” 

The  gay,  graceful,  modest,  hearty,  anticipating  kindness 
of  this  lady,  makes  every  guest  feel  himself  at  home  and 
loth  to  depart. 

This  family  (the  Flowers)  own  a  large  and  beautiful 
domain  of  prairie,  containing  unnumbered  acres  of  fine 

86  For  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Flower  family,  see  volume  x  of  our  series:  Hulme’s 
Journal,  note  21;  Flower’s  Letters  from  the  Illinois,  notes  1,  5. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


255 


land,  beautified  by  British  park  scenery.  The  visitor, 
coming  here  out  of  the  forest,  fancies  himself  in  England, 
especially  if  he  looks  at  the  country  through  the  windows 
of  Messrs.  Flower’s  and  Birkbeck’s  houses,  during  the 
green  and  flowery  season,  when  the  scenery  presents  a 
wide  waste  of  grass,  flowers,  and  shrubs,  of  every  hue; 
but  the  flowers  have  no  fragrance,  the  birds  no  song.  The 
sight  of  a  flock  of  500  Merino  sheep,  and  a  large  herd  of 
cattle,  all  their  own,  is  indeed  a  novel  and  unexpected 
pleasure  in  these  wild  regions;  [272]  and,  added  to  all  these, 
the  comfort  of  such  houses  and  harmonious  families,  es¬ 
caped  from  the  embarrassments  and  anxieties  of  England, 
to  quiet  rest  and  independence,  makes  it  indeed  a  delight¬ 
ful  spectacle.  All  say  they  have  nothing  to  regret,  and 
are  full  of  satisfaction,  except  the  wish  that  more  friends 
would  follow;  whom,  unless  they  follow,  they  shall  see  no 
more.  They  acknowledge  that  they  have  much  to  do  here, 
from  want  of  servants.  One  female,  Biddy  by  name,  re¬ 
cently  came  and  engaged  to  do  only  what  she  pleased,  and 
to  sit  at  the  same  table.  The  terms  were  complied  with, 
but  a  plan  to  cure  Biddy  was  laid.  On  a  certain  day  many 
visitors  were  invited  to  dinner,  at  which  Biddy  was  not 
allowed  to  rise,  even  to  help  herself  to  any  thing,  but  all 
present  vied  with  each  other  in  attending  on  Miss  Biddy, 
who,  in  great  confusion,  left  the  room,  fully  sensible  of  her 
folly,  and  next  day  determined  to  be  a  servant  for  the 
future. 

Mr.  Flower  and  family  recently  visited  Rapp,  the  High 
Priest  of  Harmony.  After  dinner  a  band  of  musicians 
entered.  Mr.  F.  thinks  highly  of  this  community,  who, 
in  religion  and  doctrine,  are  Lutherans;  in  discipline, 
Presbyterians.  He  says,  that  house-keeping  here  is  noth¬ 
ing  compared  with  England.  A  fat  buck,  one  dollar; 


256 


Early  We stern  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


beef,  five  cents;  mutton,  six  cents,  per  pound;  and  game, 
fine  prairie-hens,  like  grouse  and  turkeys,  in  sickening 
abundance. 

[273]  J.  Ingle  and  family,  eight  in  number,  out  of  busi¬ 
ness,  lived  for  four  dollars  a  week  at  Princeton ! 

Mr.  Flower  would  not  live  on  woodland  as  a  gift,  if 
prairie  land  could  be  bought.  The  latter  certainly  seems 
most  adapted  for  an  English  farmer;  yet  it  costs  as  much 
to  fence,  and  bring  it  into  cultivation  as  woodland;  for 
though  less  manual,  yet  more  horse  labour  is  necessary 
than  in  the  woods.  Six  horses  are  necessary  for  the  first 
ploughing,  as  the  grass  and  shrub  roots  are  deep  down 
and  uncommonly  tough,  having  been  growing  for  ages. 
It  is,  therefore,  worth  five  dollars  an  acre  to  effect  the  first 
ploughing,  and  three  or  four  dollars,  the  second.  A  sum¬ 
mer’s  fallow  is,  besides,  necessary  for  rotting  the  roots,  and 
properly  pulverizing  the  soil;  and,  unless  so  managed,  it 
is  badly  managed.  Both  Flower  and  Birkbeck  sowed 
nothing  the  first  year,  which  came  to  any  use.  The  latter 
planted  corn,  which  the  cattle  destroyed,  through  want  of 
a  good  fence,  which  must  be  hauled  from  the  woodland, 
a  considerable  distance,  to  the  prairie;  the  inclosing  is, 
therefore,  more  expensive  than  on  the  woodland. 

2 3rd. —  Spending  this  day  with  Mr.  G.  Flower,  I  rode 
from  ten  till  five  o’clock  round  the  prairie,  in  which  is 
their  fine  park-like  domain,  and  some  smaller  estates, 
purchased  for  their  friends  in  England,  of  which  there  is 
one  with  a  house  and  some  improvements  belonging  to 
Wed  Nash,  Esq.,  of  Royston,  Herts.,  and  more  rich  and 
beautiful  than  [274]  any  he  can  see  from  the  bleak,  barren, 
chalky  hills  of  his  native  town.  I  called  at  an  adjoining 
farm,  rented  by  a  dirty,  naked-legged  French  family,  who, 
though  born  in  this  country,  know  nothing  of  the  English 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


257 


language.  Then  at  Mr.  Hunt’s,  who  is  deaf  and  dumb, 
(the  brother  of  Henry  Hunt,87  the  Champion  of  Reform), 
who  with  his  nephew,  a  son  of  Henry,  came  here,  about  a 
year  since,  to  three  quarter  sections  of  land ;  of  which  they 
have  cultivated  only  six  acres.  They  live  in  a  little  one- 
room  miserable  log-cabin,  doing  all  the  labour  of  the  house 
and  land  themselves,  and  without  any  female.  We  found 
them  half-naked  and  in  rags,  busily  greasing  a  cart,  or 
mending  a  plough.  They  appeared  only  as  labourers, 
but,  on  being  introduced  to  them  by  Mr.  Flower,  their 
best  friend,  good  sense  and  breeding  shone  through  the 
gloom  of  their  forlorn  situation.  We  entered  their  cabin, 
and  took  some  boiled  beef  on  a  board,  and  sat  on  their  bed 
and  boxes,  having  no  chairs,  stools,  or  tables,  and  only 
the  mean  clothes  they  then  wore;  a  fire  having  recently 
destroyed  their  first  cabin  with  all  its  contents.  Being 
disappointed  in  English  remittances,  and  unable  to  get 
letters  from  thence,  which  they  thought  had  been  inter¬ 
cepted,  they  were  out  of  funds,  and  their  land  was  uncul¬ 
tivated,  unsown,  and  selling  for  the  payment  of  taxes. 
To  prevent  this,  Mr.  Flower  called  this  day.  Mr.  Hunt 
has  a  fine,  animated,  rather  agitated  countenance.  He 
converses  in  writing,  with  [275]  great  ease  and  rapidity, 
on  any  subject  interesting  to  him;  and  his  nephew,  the 
orator’s  son,  aged  20,  is  a  fine,  tall,  active,  kind-hearted 
youth,  pretty  well  reconciled  to  his  situation.  I  offered  to 
bear  any  commands,  or  render  them  any  services  in  my 
power,  on  returning  to  England ;  an  offer  which  they  grate¬ 
fully  embraced.  I  rode  on  towards  the  plantation  of  Mr. 
Lewis;  but  losing  our  way,  we  returned  without  seeing  him. 
He  spent  much  of  his  capital  idly  in  Philadelphia,  and  now, 

87  A  brief  biography  of  Henry  Hunt  has  been  given  in  Hulme’s  Journal, 
volume  x  of  our  series,  note  5. —  Ed. 


258 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


without  cultivating  an  acre  of  his  land  here,  he  has  resold 
it,  intending  to  keep  a  boarding-house  in  Albion.  He, 
like  the  rest  of  his  neighbours,  knows  nothing  of  agricul¬ 
ture.  The  land  here  seems  very  tempting  to  a  British 
farmer,  quite  ready  for  the  plough  without  any  hewing  or 
cleaving,  or  a  blade  of  grass  to  obstruct  the  plough.  The 
fire  has  laid  the  surface  black  and  bare  as  a  stubble  ground, 
burnt  in  the  fens  of  England.  But  what  is  land  with  men 
ignorant  of,  and  too  idle  to  work  it  ?  Without  any  culti¬ 
vation  at  all,  it  annually  offers  an  infinite  supply  of  hay 
and  grass,  for  any  who  choose  to  mow  and  gather  it,  or 
graze  it;  yet  few  or  none,  saving  Birkbeck  and  Flower, 
have  done  so.  What  is  gathered,  is  green  and  fragrant, 
but  not  so  sweet  as  fine  English  hay.  It  is  hard,  harsh, 
and  dry.  Beef  is  well  fattened  on  the  grass,  during  the 
summer,  the  finest  meat  I  ever  saw;  and  sheep,  with  the 
assistance  of  corn,  are  fattened  and  now  killing  from  Mr. 
Flower’s  flock,  which  all  day  ranges  over  [276]  the  prairies 
with  a  shepherd,  who  pens  them  at  night  close  to  the  farm¬ 
house,  away  from  the  wolves,  which  yesterday,  in  spite  of 
the  good  shepherd,  scattered  them  and  devoured  fifty.  I 
tremble  for  the  fate  of  this  flock,  which  is  now  without 
grass  or  any  substitute.  The  grass  all  dies  in  October; 
hard  and  dry  food,  which  would  starve  an  English  flock, 
is  now  and  must  be  their  lot  all  winter.  They  drink  con¬ 
stantly  when  water  is  near,  like  cattle,  and  water  must  be 
given  them  in  troughs.  And  thus  will  they  fare  at  lambing. 
What  wasting,  worrying,  scattering,  and  death  may  not  be 
expected  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  better  to  have  waited 
for  inclosures  of  cultivated  grass  for  the  herds  and  flocks  ? 

Yesterday  one  of  their  fat  bullocks  was  found  dead  near 
the  Wabash,  maliciously  shot  by  a  hunter;  for  the  discovery 
of  whom  they  offered  50  dollars  reward. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


259 


It  is  the  intention  of  these  families  to  plough  the  land 
two  years,  and  then  turn  it  into  English  pasture,  a  portion 
every  year.  Mrs.  G.  Flower,  while  in  Virginia,  kissed  a 
beautiful  black  babe  before  the  owner,  a  lady,  who  felt 
great  disgust  and  indignation  at  the  act. — “Oh,  take  it 
away!” 

Mr.  Flower  intends  to  form  a  society  for  freeing  blacks, 
and  employing  free  blacks.  It  is  to  be  on  the  Harmony 
plan.  He  promises  me  the  plan  when  matured.  He 
thinks  that  100/.  in  France  is  equal  to  300/.  in  England  for 
the  support  of  a  [277]  family,  and  in  the  former  all  is  kind¬ 
ness,  pleasure,  and  peace.  He  visited  the  Marquis  de  la 
Fayette,  whose  income  is  very  small.  By  him  he  was 
furnished  with  a  letter  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  with 
whom  he  spent  many  happy  days.  This  great  philosopher 
and  statesman,  during  the  last  30  years,  has  been  always 
up  with  the  sun,  noting  down  at  sunrise  the  state  of  the 
mercury.  He  lives  splendidly,  in  French  style,  on  the  top 
of  the  beautiful  mountain  Montecello,  with  his  grand¬ 
children  and  son-in-law,  Mr.  Randolph  (not  the  orator). 
His  last  days  are  spent  in  writing  incessantly  a  work  for 
posterity.  His  patrimony  is  fast  wasting,  as  it  is  in  the 
slave  states  generally. 

The  hunters,  or  Illinois  Rowdies,  as  they  are  called, 
are  rather  troublesome.  They  come  rudely  with  their 
hats  on  into  the  parlour,  and,  when  drunk,  threaten  Mr. 
Flower’s  life;  but  they  are  great  cowards;  firmness  and  a 
fearless  resolution  are  necessary  in  dealing  with  them. 
One  of  a  large  offended  party  came  drunk  to  Mr.  Flower’s 
house,  and  said,  he  would  enter  and  shoot  him.  Mr. 
Flower  got  his  rifle  and  pointed  it  at  the  fellow,  on  which 
he  rushed  up  and  put  his  mouth  madly  to  the  muzzle,  and 
said,  “Fire.”  Mr.  F.  then  laid  it  down,  seeing  the  effect 


260 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


was  not  good,  and  some  less  drunken  members  of  the  party 
dragged  the  fellow  away.  Law  has  no  influence  over 
these  Rowdies.  Violence  must  be  opposed  to  violence. 

The  Flower  family  has  bought  out  a  good  many  [278] 
of  these  wretches.  One,  however,  more  violent  and  law¬ 
less  than  any  yet  known,  still  remains,  of  the  name  of  Jack 
Ellis,  the  son  of  an  old  and  industrious  settler  from  Indiana, 
who  says  that  he  expects  this  son  will  some  time  murder 
his  mother  :  and  that  if  God  does  not  take  him,  he,  his 
father,  must  kill  him  himself. 

This  rascal,  with  several  others,  in  addition  to  their 
hunting,  go  round  stealing  free  negroes,  on  pretence  of 
being  employed  to  find  runaways.  The  poor  blacks  are 
thus  cruelly  taken  and  sold  at  New  Orleans.  I  saw  Jack 
with  his  rifle  after  a  negro,  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  G.  Flower, 
who  had  armed  the  poor  fellow  in  defence  of  himself 
against  Jack,  whom  the  settlement  wish  to  be  shot. 

Mr.  Flower,  sen.,  one  day  found  it  necessary  to  have  his 
family  carriage  ferried  over  the  river  in  a  flat,  which  had 
only  one  man  to  manage  it,  and  get  the  carriage  on  and  off. 
Much  delay  being  the  consequence,  and  the  man  unable 
to  do  alone,  Mr.  Flower  complained,  and  said,  “If  you 
do  not  go  and  tell  your  master  to  send  more  help,  I  will 
fine  you  for  detaining  me.”  The  fellow  very  rudely  said, 
‘  ‘I  have  no  master y nor  shall  I  go  for  more  help.  I  am  not 
a  servant.”  “How  is  that,”  said  Mr.  F.,  “the  proprietor 
hires  you;  you  serve  him,  and  he  pays  you.  I  am  not 
above  assisting  you ;  and  being  your  servant ,  and  you  shall 
pay  me  too.”  When  landed  on  the  other  side,  Mr.  Flower 
had  two  dollars  demanded.  “Very  well,”  [279]  said  he, 
“I  have  done  half  the  work,  and  therefore  I  charge  one 
dollar  for  my  service!”  The  fellow  leered  and  looked 
humbled. 


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261 


24 th. —  Left  Mr.  Flower  and  Albion  for  Wanborough, 
a  village  rising  on  the  estate  of  Mr.  Birkbeck,  and  named 
after  the  village  in  Surrey,  where  he  last  lived.  Industry 
seems  to  have  done  more  for  this  village  than  for  Albion; 
every  log-house  has  a  cleared  inclosure  of  a  few  acres 
attached,  and  what  is  done,  is  done  by  the  occupants  or 
owners,  and  not  by  Mr.  Birkbeck;  whereas,  in  Albion, 
all  has  been  done  by  the  purse  of  Mr.  Flower.  Both 
villages  are  the  abode  only  of  the  humble  mechanic.  The 
farmers  live  on  their  quarter-sections,  and  both  are  but 
scantily  supplied  with  water  at  a  distance.  Wells,  how¬ 
ever,  it  is  hoped,  will  soon  be  dug  with  an  unfailing  supply. 
Wanborough  has,  I  believe,  and  will  have  the  advantage 
over  Albion,  as  it  regards  water;  but  both  Flower  and 
Birkbeck  have  never-failing  water  in  wells  close  to  their 
houses,  to  which  people  by  permission  come  to  draw  it. 
Springs  and  streams  are  found  in  other  prairies.  On 
stopping  at  the  tavern  in  the  ville,  we  were  met  by  the 
young  Birkbecks,  who  welcomed  and  conducted  us  to 
the  seat  of  their  celebrated  father,  whom  we  met  near  the 
house  returning  from  shooting,  dressed  in  the  common 
shooting  jacket,  &c.,  of  an  English  farmer,  sporting  over 
his  own  lands.  Knowing  my  friend,  he  received  us  both 
very  graciously,  [280]  and  with  a  hearty  welcome  con¬ 
ducted  us  in  to  the  ladies.  He  approached  us  at  first  as 
strangers,  and,  as  is  common  with  him,  with  a  repelling 
sternness  and  earnestness  of  manner,  seemed  to  say, 
‘  ‘Who  are  you  ?”  But  this  manner,  if  he  is  pleased  with 
appearances,  soon  dies  away  into  smiling  kindness  and 
hospitality,  which  makes  all  at  home.  “If  I  am  not,” 
said  he,  “pleased  with  all  who  come,  and  I  cannot,  and 
will  not,  they  go  away  abusing  me  and  the  settlement.” 
Gentler  and  kinder  manners,  perhaps,  to  strangers  indis- 


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[Vol.  11 


criminately  coming  from  afar,  would  be  no  bad  policy. 
Mr.  Birkbeck  is  of  a  small,  unformidable,  but  erect  stature, 
and  swarthy  Indian  complexion.  The  contour  of  his  face, 
with  the  exception  of  a  fine  nose,  possesses  little  that  is 
striking;  and  the  face,  viewed  as  a  whole,  indicates  little 
of  the  exactness,  ripeness,  sweetness,  and  finished  taste, 
which  are  known  to  distinguish  him.  Notwithstanding 
the  shock  his  feelings  recently  received,  he  seems  enviably 
happy  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  which  consists  of  four 
sons  and  two  daughters,  mistresses  of  the  lyre  and  lute, 
and  of  many  other  accomplishments.  Mr.  B.,  and  every 
branch  of  this  happy  family,  with  the  exception  of  his  son 
Richard,  retire  at  ten  every  evening  to  their  sleeping  rooms, 
where  a  fire  is  kindled  for  them  to  read  and  study  by,  half 
the  night.  “I  am  happy,”  said  he,  “in  my  family!” 
His  favourite  son  Morris,  a  finished  scholar,  disliking  a 
rustic  life,  is  [281]  about  returning  to  England.  Mr. 
Birkbeck  had  not  the  advantages  of  his  children,  but  still 
is  master  of  the  dead  and  several  of  the  modem  languages. 
He,  only  a  few  days  since,  returned  from  a  tour  through 
Illinois,  by  way  of  Kascasky,  where  he  was  chosen  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  agricultural  society  of  Illinois,  one  grand  object 
of  which  will  be,  to  rid  the  state  of  stagnant  waters.  He 
visited  manv  settlements,  but  saw  none  so  desirable  as  his 
own.  On  the  Little  Wabash,  is  one,  of  which  he  says  Mr. 
Grant  of  Chatteris  farms  a  part,  very  fine  rich  land,  but 
rather  sickly,  and  during  the  winter  and  spring  inacces¬ 
sible,  by  the  overflowings  of  the  Little  Wabash,  which  then 
becomes  five  miles  wide,  imprisoning  the  settlement.  Mr. 
Grant  has  been  burnt  out  once,  and  lost  cabin  and  all  it 
contained.  His  daughter  lives  away  from  him  at  board. 
Not  wishing  to  become  prisoner  to  the  Little  Wabash,  I 
declined,  though  I  once  intended,  visiting  this  first-rate 


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263 


English  farmer,  late  of  Chatteris-ferry  in  the  Isle  of  Ely. 
This  gentleman  died  shortly  afterwards,  a  victim  to  the 
climate. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  says  the  Missouri  territory  partakes  of 
an  European  character,  in  some  respects,  and  is  preferred 
by  some  English  families  on  account  of  slavery,  or  rather 
the  facility  of  getting  labour  and  servants.  Colonel  Boon 
now  lives  thirty  miles  only  from  St.  Louis,  and  in  that 
flourishing  town,  Clark,  the  celebrated  traveller  up  the 
Missouri  river,  lives,  and  has  a  museum.88  [282]  Colonel 
Boon  and  his  party,  being  without  bread  for  six  months, 
used  wild  turkey  to  their  meat  as  a  substitute. 

88  General  William  Clark,  the  companion  of  Meriwether  Lewis  in  the 
famous  overland  expedition  from  St.  Louis  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
River  (1804-06),  was  at  this  time  governor  of  Missouri  Territory.  He  had  pre¬ 
served  numerous  relics  of  the  expedition  and  of  the  savage  tribes  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  together  with  miscellaneous  specimens  in  natural  history,  etc. 

His  great-granddaughter,  Miss  Eleanor  Glasgow  Voorhis  of  New  York 
city,  writes  (August  n,  1904):  “My  great-uncle  on  the  maternal  side,  Edward 
James  Glasgow,  of  St.  Louis,  who  is  now  eighty-four  years  of  age,  remembers 
with  great  distinctness  General  Clark’s  Indian  museum,  which  he  often  visited 
as  a  boy.  At  this  time,  my  great-grandfather’s  residence  was  on  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Vine  streets,  in  St.  Louis.  He  also  owned  four  other  houses  consecu¬ 
tively  on  the  block,  fronting  Main  street.  In  a  large  room  or  hall  in  one  of 
these,  were  gathered  the  Indian  curiosities,  the  collection  being  opened  to  the 
public.  Here  were  Indian  dresses  decorated  with  feathers;  weapons,  such  as 
bows  and  arrows,  battle  clubs,  and  stone  axes;  birch-bark  canoes,  suspended 
from  the  ceiling;  skins  of  animals;  the  bones  of  a  mastodon;  and  other  interest¬ 
ing  specimens  and  relics.  During  General  Clark’s  life,  this  collection  was  kept 
intact;  afterwards,  these  houses,  as  a  part  of  the  estate,  were  divided  among 
his  three  sons,  and  for  safe-keeping  the  collection  was  sent  to  a  public  museum, 
managed  by  a  man  named  Koch.  After  a  time,  Koch  slipped  away  from  St. 
Louis,  taking  the  collection  with  him  to  England,  by  way  of  New  Orleans. 
This  fact  was  not  discovered  in  time  to  recover  the  articles;  but  some  years 
later,  one  of  our  family  thought  that  he  identified  some  of  them  in  London.” 

Henry  R.  Schoolcraft,  writing  in  1821  ( Travels  in  the  Central  Portions  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  New  York,  1825,  pp.  293,  294),  says  that  Clark’s  mu¬ 
seum  was  “arranged  with  considerable  effect,  in  the  building  occupied  as  a 
council  house  for  the  St.  Louis  Agency.  We  believe  this  is  the  only  collection 
of  specimens  of  art  and  nature  west  of  Cincinnati,  which  partakes  of  the  char¬ 
acter  of  a  museum,  or  cabinet  of  natural  history.” —  Ed. 


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[Vol.  11 


After  this  conversation  within  doors,  we  agreed  to  walk 
out  and  view  the  house  and  estate.  The  first  is  very 
capacious  and  convenient,  furnished  with  winter  and 
summer  apartments,  piazzas,  and  balconies,  and  a  fine 
library,  to  which  you  ascend  by  an  outward  gallery. 
Every  comfort  is  found  in  this  abode  of  the  emperor  of  the 
prairies,  as  he  is  here  called.  It  is  situated  out  of  the 
village,  and  on  an  elevation,  having  a  fine  view  of  his 
estate,  and  the  prairies  generally,  in  front.  It  is  a  pity 
that  it  is  not  built  of  brick  or  stone,  instead  of  wood ;  once 
on  fire,  it  will  be  inextinguishable,  and  the  loss  of  comfort 
and  property  considerable,  and,  moreover,  irrecoverable. 
There  is  no  limestone  here  for  mortar,  but  what  is  made, 
expensively,  twelve  miles  off,  of  shells  from  the  Wabash. 
Brick  buildings  are  laid  in  muddy  clay ! 

This  estate,  consisting  of  16,000  acres,  which  he  sells 
as  customers  offer,  comprises  some  fine,  and  some  wet 
land;  and,  at  present,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  acres  of 
wheat  just  sown,  too  late,  it  is  all  uncultivated.  Many 
acres  are,  however,  enclosed  by  a  ditch  and  rail  fence, 
formed  by  stakes,  bands,  and  split  rails,  which  will  oftener 
need  repairing  than  the  worm  fence,  without  being  so 
complete  a  protection.  Less  timber,  however,  is  needed  in 
this  mode;  and  timber,  drawn  from  a  distance,  is  [283] 
now,  and,  in  times  to  come,  will,  if  no  green  fences  are 
raised,  become  a  matter  of  great  importance.  I  believe 
this  fence  will  not  be  imitated  by  any  American.  Land 
here  is  of  no  value  without  fences,  which  will  keep  cattle 
in  and  pigs  out.  He  does  not  intend  to  farm  much;  “I 
had  enough  of  farming  for  thirty  years  in  England. 
I  came  here  to  rest.  It  ought  not  to  be  expected  of  me 
that  I  should  incumber  myself  with  much  business.”  He 
means  to  plough  two  years,  and  then  turn  the  land  into 


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265 


pasture,  it  being  not  desirable  to  have  a  large  surplus  pro¬ 
duce  above  what  can  be  consumed  bv  the  settlement;  but 
of  this  there  is  little  fear,  as  not  above  six  original  farmers 
are  yet  here.  Mr.  B.  discovers  that  ditching  and  fencing 
removes  the  cause  of  the  fogs  which  hang  over  the  low 
prairies.  About  nine  to  twelve  inches  of  surface,  good 
soil,  rather  light,  is  found.  Underneath  is  white  clay, 
which  an  animal  like  a  crab,  but  called  a  craw-fish,8® 
throws  up  into  numerous  hills,  bigger  than  the  large  ant¬ 
hills  in  old  English  pastures.  This  white  clay,  thus  mixed, 
is,  by  Mr.  B.,  deemed  a  benefit.  These  curious  creatures 
delve  down  into  the  water  under  the  soil.  They  are,  like 
moles,  seldom  seen  but  in  their  effects. 

During  our  pleasant  morning  walk,  John  Ingle  said, 
‘  ‘His  father  (the  patriarch)  wished  to  come,  but  found  it 
difficult,  as  his  daughters  were  marrying,  and  giving  in 
marriage,  and  therefore  impeding  the  father’s  wishes.” 
“What,”  replied  Mr.  Birkbeck,  [284]  “What!  stay  and 
breed  beggars  in  England !  Well !  with  industry,  we  shall 
always  have  an  asylum  for  them  here,  but  not  soft  inde¬ 
pendence.” 

Mr.  B.  said  the  Rowdies  had  threatened  him  with 
assassination;  but  showing  and  convincing  them  that  he 
would  shoot  them  if  they  attempted  to  enter  his  house 
without  permission,  they  had  abandoned  their  design. 
This  circumstance,  no  doubt,  gave  birth  to  a  report  of 
his  death,  which  I  saw  entered  in  the  news-book  at  Wheel¬ 
ing,  and  at  Zainsville,  Ohio. 

25 th. —  After  sleeping  and  breakfasting  at  Mr.  Birk- 
beck’s,  I  called  and  dined  with  Joseph  Hanks,90  Esq.  and 

89  Astacus  fluviatilis. —  Ed. 

90  Francis  Hanks  and  his  sons  bought  a  five-acre  lot  and  built  a  house  at 
Wanborough,  but  later  all  returned  to  Ireland  save  the  oldest  son,  Francis,  who 
(1821)  married  Miss  Prudence  Birkbeck. —  Ed. 


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[Vol.  ii 


his  fine  Irish  family  of  sprightly  sons,  and  one  little  mother¬ 
less  daughter.  They  are  Protestants,  and  lived,  as 
long  as  they  could  keep  their  comforts,  in  Ireland.  He 
was  a  banker,  and  a  correspondent  of  the  Right  Hon.  N. 
Vansittart,  and  George  Canning,  Esq.  while  the  young 
sons  were  the  dandies  of  Dublin;  but  here,  the  father  is 
a  store-keeper,  and  the  sons  are  cooks,  housemaids,  car¬ 
penters,  and  drudges  for  all  work.  He  brought  consider¬ 
able  property  away.  He  has  bought  no  land,  and  pro¬ 
fesses  to  dislike  the  prairies  and  America  generally.  He 
would  have  bought  from  Mr.  Birkbeck,  but  could  get 
only  a  “cup,”  that  is,  a  swamp.  He  says  his  funds  are 
yet  entire,  and  he  means  to  leave  the  country,  and  live 
in  England,  in  a  garret,  in  either  London  or  Dublin, 
rather  [285]  than  remain  here,  if  he  should  be  cast  in  a 
suit  in  which  he  is  the  plaintiff,  against  the  magistrates 
of  Illinois,  who,  he  thinks,  have  unjustly  taken  Birkbeck’s 
part  against  him;  he  and  his  family  having  quarreled  with 
Mr.  B.  and  family,  about  water,  &c.  Mr.  Hanks,  is  a 
wild,  hot-headed,  sprightly  Irishman,  charging  Mr.  Birk¬ 
beck’s  writings  with  falsehood  and  deception,  and  him 
as  a  deceiver,  idly  spending  already  30,000  dollars;  no 
farmer,  and  now  out  of  funds,  and  embarrassed.  “I 
was  caught,”  said  he,  “by  his  fascinating  writings;  it  was 
impossible  to  resist  them.  Who  could  ?  Did  ever  man 
write  like  him?  I  read  his  letters  to  him;  he  could  not 
bear  it.  Persons  were  employed  to  buy  them  up  in  the 
east.  I  admire  both  him  and  his  writings,  and  notwith¬ 
standing  all  I  say  against  him,  I  love  him  still.  What¬ 
ever  may  be  his  opinions,  I  hope  and  believe  the  Almighty 
will  never  let  such  a  man  slip  through  his  fingers.  He 
must,  however,  fail  in  his  enterprize.  Never  come  here, 
sir:  here  is  no  money,  no  labourers.  The  English  are  the 


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267 


most  dishonest.”  He  says,  Mr.  Birkbeck  maintained  his 
father  during  the  last  six  years  of  his  life.  I  returned  to 
sup  and  sleep  at  Birkbeck’ s,  who,  on  hearing  where  we 
spent  the  day,  said,  “You  have  heard  much  falsehood. 
Hanks  is  a  bad  man,  having  quarreled  with  me,  and  nearly 
all  around  him.” 

Cobbett  now  became  the  theme;  I  said  he  had  [286] 
sent  the  bones  of  Tom  Paine  to  be  enshrined  at  Botley. 
“He  cannot  be  such  a  fool?”  “His  writings  have  been 
useful,  and  extensively  read,”  said  I.  “Yes,  that  is  true, 
but  he  sticks  not  to  truth;  he  is  a  caricaturist,  and  a  dis¬ 
honest  man.”  He  then  showed  me  his  manuscript  reply 
to  Mr.  Cobbett’s  attack.  In  giving  my  opinion  of  it,  I 
pointed  out  what  I  conceived  to  be  a  grand  omission,  that 
of  not  noticing  “no  market  for  a  surplus  produce,”  and 
said,  “he  will  fasten  upon  that.”  “Yes,  he  probably 
will,  but  that  is  a  general  question  applicable  to  the  whole 
western  country.”  “He  will,”  said  I,  “have  a  rejoinder 
for  you.”  “Well,  I  must  write  again.” 

His  opinion  of  Rapp  and  Harmony  is  unfriendly  to 
such  a  community.  It  is  not  firm  as  to  temporals,  and 
as  to  spirituals,  it  is  a  priestly  tyranny,  interested  in  en¬ 
slaving  body  and  conscience,  in  order  that  a  few  may 
some  day  divide  the  spoil.  They  keep  no  accounts,  and 
as  the  land  is  conveyed  to  Rapp  and  his  followers,  those 
followers,  by  good  management,  may  become  very  few; 
then  Harmony  will  be  divided.  ‘  ‘No  pleasurable  feelings 
possess  a  man  who  contemplates  this  community.” 

26 th. —  At  breakfast,  this  morning,  the  young  Birk- 
becks  said  they  had  seen  a  general  employed  in  pig-kill¬ 
ing,  and  a  judge  driving  his  own  waggon.  I  asked  the 
young  ladies  how  they  relished  the  rattle-snake.  They 
said,  as  it  was  of  a  prodigious  size  and  tough  and  old,  it 


268 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


was  scarcely  eatable,  [287]  though  it  looked  white  and  deli¬ 
cate,  and  tasted  like  a  chicken. 

The  term  elegant  is  no  where  so  little  understood  as  in 
this  country.  One  of  Mr.  B.’s  neighbours’  sons  falling 
sick,  the  father  applied  to  Mr.  B.’s  chest  for  medicine, 
and  received  it.  Mr.  B.  next  morning  said  to  the  father, 
“Well,  sir,  how  did  the  medicine  operate?”  “Oh,  sir, 
elegantly,”  was  the  reply. 

The  hour  was  now  come  for  quitting  this  distinguished 
man  and  harmonious  family.  He  wished  me  to  stay 
longer,  and  to  hear  of  and  from  me  after  my  return  to 
England,  and  that  his  son,  Morris,  who  is  coming  to  a 
mercantile  concern  at  Bristol,  might  accompany  me. 

I  dined,  on  fine  roast  beef,  with  Dr.  Pugsley,  physician 
to  the  settlement.  Here  are  English  elegance  and  com¬ 
fort,  but  no  servant.  What  a  change!  And,  as  the  set¬ 
tlement  is  said  to  be  healthy,  what  a  chance  for  a  mere 
doctor!  In  the  afternoon  I  called  on  Mr.  Cowling,  late 
of  Spalding,  Lincolnshire,  who,  with  his  brother,  is  settled 
on  a  corner  of  a  quarter-section,  living  without  any  female, 
and  fast  barbarizing,  in  a  most  miserable  log-cabin,  not 
mudded,  having  only  one  room,  no  furniture  of  any  kind, 
save  a  miserable,  filthy,  ragged  bed  for  himself  and  his 
brother,  who  is  lamed,  and  prostrated  on  the  floor,  by  a 
plough-share,  and  who,  though  unable  to  move,  yet  refuses 
a  doctor.  Both  were  more  filthy,  stinking,  ragged,  and 
repelling,  than  any  [288]  English  stroller  or  beggar  ever 
seen ;  garments  rotting  off,  linen  unwashed,  face  unshaven 
and  unwashed,  for,  I  should  think,  a  month.  Yet  Mr. 
Cowling  is  a  sensible,  shrewd  man,  quite  a  philosopher, 
though  filthiness  is  against  the  law  of  nature.  “Here 
(says  he)  a  man  learns  philosophy  and  its  uses!”  He 
expects  his  sisters  and  brothers  into  this  miserable  abode. 


1818-1819] 


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269 


What  a  shock  will  such  a  spectacle  be  to  their  feelings! 
He  went,  during  the  summer,  five  miles  for  water,  though 
a  well  might  have  been  dug  on  his  farm.  He  grumbles 
about  having  given  50/.  per  cent,  profit  to  Birkbeck  for 
his  land,  for  by  this  policy  the  latter  has  injured  the  settle¬ 
ment  and  himself;  and  as  he  does  not  farm,  as  was  ex¬ 
pected,  he  must  lose  his  capital  as  well  as  Mr.  Flower. 
He  says  prairie  lands  cost  as  much  getting  into  cultiva¬ 
tion  as  the  woodland.  People  coming  here  without  for¬ 
tune,  must  have  industry  and  work,  if  they  would  live. 
He  does  not,  however,  regret  emigrating,  but  people  should 
be  taught  the  truth,  and  come  with  no  inflated  notions. 
Birkbeck  has  deceived  himself  and  the  public.  Cobbett’s 
rubs  against  him  are  good,  but  some  are  false.91 

I  rested  this  night  at  the  one-room  log-cabin  of  Mr. 
Woods  and  family,  a  real  Nottinghamshire  farmer,  on 
400  acres  of  good  land.92  Here  we  found  an  excellent 
cleanly  supper,  good  whiskey,  segars,  and  a  friendly  wel¬ 
come.  The  room  contained  four  beds,  for  nine  of  us, 
standing  on  a  [289]  dirt  floor,  while  the  chimney  poured 
nearly  all  its  smoke  upon  us.  With  a  scolding  wife,  in¬ 
stead  of  his  pretty,  cleanly  English  niece,  things  had  been 
complete.  But  Mr.  Woods  lost  his  wife  on  the  Ohio  river, 
where  many  poor  English,  this  summer,  have  either  died 
or  been  drowned.  He  has  brought  with  him  four  bushels 
of  English  hawthorn,  for  green  fencing;  without  green 
fencing,  woe  be  to  the  prairies!  Mr.  Woods  seems  a 
plain,  judicious,  industrious  man,  sensible  of  the  wisdom 
of  his  choice.  The  Woods  are  men  either  for  the  prairie 
or  the  wood  country.  Not  far  from  Mr.  Woods  lives  a 

#1  Regarding  Cobbett’s  hostility  to  Birkbeck’s  settlement,  see  preface  to 
volume  x  of  our  series. —  Ed. 

91  See  ante,  note  85. —  Ed. 


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[Vol.  11 


Mr.  Bentley  and  lady,  late  of  London,  who,  here,  with  a 
little  property,  have  turned  farmers,  doing  all  the  labour 
in  the  field  and  log-house  themselves,  and,  it  is  said,  seem 
very  cheerful,  happy,  and  healthy.  In  London  he  had 
the  gout,  and  she  the  delicate  blue  devils,  but  here  milk¬ 
ing,  fetching  water,  and  all  kinds  of  drudgery,  in  doors  and 
out,  have  cured  her,  and  ploughing,  him.  He  never,  he 
says,  loved  her  or  she  him,  half  so  much  as  in  Illinois.  At 
a  distance  of  five  miles  from  any  dwelling  live  also  two 
young  gay  gentlemen,  late  of  London,  of  the  name  of 
Millor,  now  called  children  of  the  wood,  who  cultivate 
one  quarter  section,  and  shift  for  themselves  in  great  com¬ 
fort,  cleanliness,  and  satisfaction,  though  they  never  saw 
a  plough  before.  Here  they  do  all.  Mr.  J.  Cookson, 
of  Bond-street,  is  now  in  Fordham’s  store. 

[290]  27 th. —  By  appointment,  I  revisited  the  Flower 
family.  When  it  became  known  in  England  that  they 
were  about  to  emigrate,  they  were  constantly  assailed  on 
the  road  and  at  home  by  inquiries,  insomuch  that  it  was 
necessary,  for  several  days,  to  keep  a  servant  posted  at 
the  anti-room  door,  to  give  a  general  answer  to  such  in¬ 
quiries,  by  saying  that  they  neither  wished  nor  wanted 
any  body  to  go  to  America.  At  this  time  Mr.  Birkbeck’s 
notes  appeared,  after  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  respec¬ 
table,  independent  bookseller,  Mr.  Ridgway.  Mr.  Flower 
read  to  me  a  manuscript  letter,  intended  for  publication, 
which  he  had  recently  written,  addressed  to  Mr.  Birkbeck, 
respecting  the  conduct  of  the  latter  gentleman;  the  object 
of  which  is  to  put  him  on  his  defence  in  all  matters,  public 
and  private,  relating  to  their  mysterious  and  unfortunate 
quarrel.  As  I  have  heard  both  sides,  from  both  parties, 
or  at  least  as  much  of  both  sides  as  the  parties,  volunta¬ 
rily  and  unquestioned,  thought  proper  to  give  me,  I  shall 


1818-1819] 


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271 


endeavour  to  give  a  faithful  account  of  what  I  heard.93 
The  Flowers  charge  Mr.  B.  with  an  intention  of  driving 
their  family  out  of  Illinois,  and  of  deceiving  the  public 
generally,  in  the  hope  of  monopolizing  all  the  prairies  to 
himself,  so  that  he  might  sell,  at  what  advanced  price 
he  pleased,  to  such  of  his  countrymen  as  came  hither, 
induced  by  his  tempting  publications.  The  second  letter 
of  that  volume  is  to  Mr.  Flower,  sen.  Wishing  to  visit 
[291]  America,  to  relieve  himself  from  domestic  unhappi¬ 
ness,  Mr.  G.  Flower  was  the  precursor  of  Mr.  Birkbeck, 
who  then  was  opposed  to  emigration,  but  who,  soon  after 
Flower’s  departure,  suddenly  changing  his  opinion,  de¬ 
termined  on  his  present  measure,  and  wrote  to  G.  Flower 
to  that  effect,  who  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  country, 
that  he  bought  land  in  Virginia,  intending  to  settle  on  it, 
if  he  could  induce  his  family  to  follow.  Mr.  Birkbeck 
now  met  the  Flower  family,  to  persuade  them  to  emigrate 
with  him  to  their  son  George  Flower,  and  make  one  prop¬ 
erty  and  share  all  things  in  common,  a  measure  too 
Utopian  for  Mr.  Flower,  sen.  to  approve.  Mr.  Birkbeck 
then  reproached  Mr.  Flower  with  croaking ;  and  the  emi¬ 
gration  of  the  Flower  family  was  deferred,  while  Mr. 
Birkbeck  prepared  for  his  departure.  The  Miss  Birk- 
becks  seeing  a  young  lady  at  Mr.  Flower’s,  Miss  Andrews, 
wished  her  to  accompany  them  to  America,  a  measure  to 
which  the  father  objected,  but  soon  afterwards  consented, 
and  away  they  sailed  to  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  where  they 
were  met  by  George  Flower,  who  agreed  to  accompany 
them  westward.  Miss  Andrews  and  George  Flower,  un¬ 
known  to  Birkbeck,  were  agreeing  to  marry;  and  on  arriv- 

93  See  George  Flower’s  account  of  this  quarrel  in  his  ‘  ‘  History  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  Settlement  in  Edwards  County,”  Chicago  Historical  Collections,  i,  pp. 
112-115. —  Ed. 


272 


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[Vol.  11 


ing  at  Vincennes,  both  parties  made  it  known  to  Mr.  Birk- 
beck,  who,  with  considerable  agitation  and  surprise,  gave 
his  consent  and  sanction  to  the  marriage.  This  consent, 
however,  was  wildly  given,  and  apparently  with  extreme 
reluctance,  [292]  for  he  also  was  attached  to  this  lovely 
female.  Mr.  Birkbeck  having  shewn  strong  feelings  and 
emotions  on  this  occasion,  Mr.  Flower  and  the  Birkbeck 
family,  in  consequence,  felt  much  alarm.  Mr.  Flower 
did  not  expect  it,  though  he  knew  of  the  unfortunate  at¬ 
tachment,  for  the  fondness  so  little  encouraged  was  but 
too  evident;  but  as  he  had  ingenuously  told  Mr.  Birkbeck, 
and  advised  with  him  on  the  measure,  and  he  had  con¬ 
sented  and  acquiesced  with  apparent  kindness,  Mr.  G. 
Flower  had  hoped  that  his  strong  emotions  would  subside. 
He  offered  to  leave  Mr.  Birkbeck  and  his  family  for  ever, 
to  which  Mr.  B.  would  not  consent,  but,  on  leaving  the 
happy  pair  at  Vincennes,  went  on  to  Princeton,  where  all, 
in  a  few  days,  met  in  friendship,  and  proceeding  into  Illi¬ 
nois,  subsequently  settled  in  the  prairies,  as  one  family, 
until  Birkbeck  showed  symptoms  of  violent  attachment, 
which  excited  alarm  as  to  consequences.  It  was  then 
thought  advisable,  as  Mr.  G.  Flower  was  going  to  England, 
that  Mrs.  F.  should  not  continue  there,  but  go  eastward, 
and  remain  there  until  her  husband  returned.  She  did 
so,  and  Mr.  Birkbeck  parted  with  them  in  friendship, 
promising  to  prepare  houses  and  purchase  land  for  them 
and  the  family  before  they  returned.  Mr.  G.  Flower  was 
also  the  bearer  of  Mr.  Birkbeck’ s  celebrated  letters  for 
publication  in  England  and  Philadelphia.94  All  seemed 
peace,  and  money  was  sent  over  express  from  [293]  Eng¬ 
land  to  Mr.  Birkbeck,  for  purchasing  and  building;  but, 
when  the  Flower  family  arrived,  he  had  done  nothing, 


84  Concerning  these  letters,  see  preface  to  volume  x  of  our  series. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


273 


nor  purchased  any  thing  for  them,  and  on  Mr.  George 
Flower  calling  on  Birkbeck,  the  latter,  shaking  his  head, 
turned  his  back,  saying,  “I  am  sorry  to  see  you,  I  had 
rather  not  see  you  —  I  cannot,  will  not  see  you.”  ‘  ‘But,” 
said  Mr.  Flower,  “I  must  see  you;  I  have  money  for  you, 
and  business  with  you.”  “A  third  person  will  do;  I 
name  your  brother.”  Mr.  Flower  then  departed  to  his 
lady  and  brothers,  now  homeless  and  exposed,  in  a  little 
old,  ruinous,  dirt-floor  cabin,  without  doors  or  windows, 
or  furniture,  or  food,  or  water;  and  here,  thus  exposed  to 
the  damp  ground,  camping  out  all  night,  in  pestilential 
dews,  all  fell  sick  but  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flower,  who  had  to 
ride  twenty  miles  for  food,  physic,  and  furniture,  denied 
them  by  Mr.  Birkbeck.  At  length  Mr.  Flower  fell  sick, 
and  thus  was  Mrs.  Flower,  the  only  person  in  health, 
compelled  to  be  servant  of  all  work  to  all,  having  water 
to  draw  and  carry  herself  from  a  distance,  and  wood  to 
hew  for  the  fire,  and  no  neighbours  but  the  barbarian  hunt¬ 
ers,  who  tendered  that  assistance  which  their  dear  friend 
Birkbeck  refused.  Mr.  Flower’s  favorite  son,  thus  ex¬ 
posed  and  sick,  never  recovered.  The  senior  branches 
of  the  Flower  family  were  now  at  Lexington,  ignorant  of 
these  evils,  until  a  letter  from  Mr.  Birkbeck  reached  them, 
wishing  they  should  settle  in  the  east,  (where  he  supposed 
them  [294]  to  be,)  telling  his  reasons  for  so  advising 
them,  namely,  because  he  thought  that  they  would  all 
make  common  cause  with  their  son,  George  Flower,  and 
that  he  had  not  bought  them  any  land,  but  ordered  the 
funds  to  be  returned  to  their  banker  in  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
Flower  answered  with  great  bitterness  and  asperity,  accus¬ 
ing  Mr.  Birkbeck  of  fraud,  treachery,  and  cruelty,  threat¬ 
ening  summary  justice,  and  expressing  a  determination 
to  come  and  live  there,  to  protect  his  son  and  family  against 


274 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  n 


his  malice.  Mr.  Birkbeck  then  offered  peace,  at  least  to 
Mr.  Flower,  sen.;  “but,”  said  Mr.  Flower,  “I  could  not 
take  him  by  the  hand  now ;  it  would  be  loss  of  character. 
I  had  done  nothing  to  offend  him,  and  why  was  I  thus 
made  to  suffer?  I  am  bound  up  with  my  family;  their 
lives  are  precious  in  my  sight.”  This  was  a  part  of  his 
letter  to  Birkbeck,  which  he  read  to  me,  but  when  he  came 
to  that  part,  he  burst  into  tears,  and  rushed  out,  putting 
it  into  my  hands.  I  not  being  able  to  read  it,  Miss  Flower 
concluded  it.  Neither  Mr.  R.  Flower,  nor  Mr.  G.  Flower, 
have  ever  since  met  Mr.  Birkbeck.  ‘  T  avoid  seeing  him,” 
says  Mr.  R.  Flower,  ‘  ‘because,  if  I  came  near,  I  must  lay 
violent  hands  on  him;  I  must  knock  him  down.  I  will 
never  see  him,  or  speak  to  him  more;  a  reconciliation  is 
impossible,  to  me  it  would  be  a  stain  and  loss  of  charac¬ 
ter.”  All  the  evil  to  both  families,  and  to  the  settlement, 
they  impute  to  Birkbeck.  [295]  They  wonder  why  he 
should  have  so  changed,  when  he  had  sanctioned  the 
conduct  of  George  Flower,  and  given  him  the  lady  in 
marriage.  They  deem  it  hypocrisy,  of  the  first  order,  as 
well  as  the  greatest  impolicy;  “but,”  say  they,  “he  is  now 
punished  for  it,  being  nearly  in  the  situation  of  an  em¬ 
barrassed  man.”  Mrs.  G.  Flower,  however,  more  char¬ 
itably,  imputes  nothing  in  Mr.  Birkbeck’s  conduct  to  vile 
or  corrupt  motives,  but  all  to  love,  and  to  that  kind  of 
revenge,  which  such  a  disappointment  was  likely  to  gen¬ 
erate,  when  the  mind  was  lonely  and  abandoned  to  its 
own  feelings.  They  deem  the  event  a  great  evil  to  them¬ 
selves  and  to  the  settlement,  because  it  happened  at  a  time 
when  the  joint  exertions  of  these  two  families  were  so 
necessary  for  its  success.  It  deranged  every  thing;  and 
all  connected  with,  or  who  came  nigh  the  prairies,  won¬ 
dered  and  felt  the  evil,  because  the  secret  was  unknown. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


275 


Mr.  G.  Flower  professes  not  to  defend  his  departure  from 
law  and  custom,  in  this  second  marriage,  but  very  ingenu¬ 
ously  confesses,  that  having  missed  his  chance  of  happiness 
in  his  first,  he  was  determined  to  try  a  second  mar¬ 
riage,  which  promised  better  things;  and  as  Mr.  Birkbeck 
knew  his  situation  intimately,  he  would  not  have  censured 
him,  had  he  not  wished  to  marry  the  lady  himself.  As  this 
could  not  be,  he  and  Mr.  Birkbeck  had,  instead  of  con¬ 
sulting  the  good  of  the  settlement,  laid  by  to  give  each  other 
mortal  stabs,  or  rather  to  [296]  blast  each  other’s  good 
name.  This  ends  one  side  of  the  case. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  in  reply,  takes  a  disinterested,  high, 
moral  stand,  suffering  nothing  to  escape  him  relating  to 
his  own  disappointments,  though  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mel- 
lish,  he  admits  “that  scandal  is  busy  with  his  name  and 
affairs.”  He  states,  that  soon  after  landing  in  this  country, 
and  being  joined  by  Mr.  G.  Flower,  he  began  to  suspect 
a  connection  was  forming  between  Miss  Andrews  and 
George  Flower.  At  length  it  became  unequivocal,  and 
he  consented  to  and  sanctioned  their  marriage,  as  the  least 
of  two  unavoidable  evils;  for  the  parties  had  determined 
either  on  marriage  (if  not  impracticable),  or  at  least  on 
cohabitation;  and,  as  he  respected  both  as  his  children, 
he  consented  to  the  former  as  the  least  evil.  The  grand 
cause  of  a  change  of  conduct  to  them  (so  much  wondered 
at  by  the  Flowers),  and  of  not  fulfilling  his  promises  of 
purchasing  and  building  for  the  reception  of  the  families, 
will  be  seen  in  the  following  circumstances.  He  had  been 
deceived;  while  G.  Flower  was  gone  to  London,  he  be¬ 
came  undeceived;  he  learnt,  from  the  best  authority, 
that  Miss  Andrews  had  been  the  cause  of  all  the  jealousy, 
unhappiness,  and  separation  in  G.  Flower’s  former  mar¬ 
riage;  and  that  the  senior  branches  had  placed  this  young 


276 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


lady  in  his  family  for  the  express  purpose  of  effecting  their 
purposes,  namely  of  marrying  her  to  their  son;  a  circum¬ 
stance  calculated  [297]  to  injure  the  honour  of  himself  and 
family  in  the  eyes  of  an  uncharitable  world.  Seeing  him¬ 
self,  then,  to  have  been  made  the  innocent  tool  of  such 
iniquitous  measures,  it  no  longer  remained  a  matter  of 
choice  whether  he  should  receive  or  abandon  them;  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  act  otherwise  than  he  had  done, 
if  he  intended  to  preserve  his  reputation.  It  was  cer¬ 
tainly  not  his  wish  to  quarrel  with  Mr.  R.  Flower,  but  as 
father  and  son  were  one,  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  it;  he 
therefore  declined  purchasing  the  promised  land  or  using 
their  money  in  any  way.  He  conceives  that  Mr.  Flower 
should  not  have  taken  part  with  his  son,  but  rather  en¬ 
deavoured,  by  all  manner  of  means,  to  make  reparation 
for  the  indignity  attempted  to  be  put  on  his  (Birkbeck’s) 
family  by  their  illicit  conduct. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  rids  himself  of  the  charge  of  fraud  and 
breach  of  trust,  by  saying,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Flower’s  severe 
letter,  that  it  was  optional  whether  he  purchased  lands 
with  the  money  sent;  it  was  not  binding  upon  him  to  do  it. 
And,  moreover,  he  thought  it  for  the  interest  of  both  fami¬ 
lies,  under  such  circumstances,  to  be  more  distantly  situ¬ 
ated. 

Thus  have  I  given  both  sides  of  the  question,  as  com¬ 
pletely  as  they  could  be  gathered  from  verbal  statements. 

The  two  villes  of  Albion  and  Wanborough,  the  abodes 
of  contention,  party  spirit,  speculation,  and  feuds,  arose 
out  of  this  greatly  to  be  regretted  [298]  quarrel.  If  it 
had  produced  competition  and  extraordinary  exertions 
in  agriculture,  and  a  desire  to  conciliate,  accommodate, 
and  invite  settlers,  it  had  been  well;  but  the  reverse  was 
the  consequence.  It  is  true  that  no  man,  since  Columbus, 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


277 


has  done  so  much  towards  peopling  America  as  Mr.  Birk- 
beck,  whose  publications,  and  the  authority  of  whose 
name,  had  effects  truly  prodigious;  and  if  all  could  have 
settled  in  Illinois,  whom  he  had  tempted  to  cross  the 
Atlantic  and  the  mountains,  it  had  now  been  the  most 
populous  state  in  the  Union.  America,  and  the  western 
country  generally,  are  benefitted  by  and  indebted  to  him ; 
but,  not  being  a  man  of  business,  and  therefore  ill  calcu¬ 
lated  to  appreciate  properly  his  advantages,  the  time  to 
benefit  himself  is  not  yet  come.  He  has  land  enough; 
but  what  is  land  without  population  and  cultivation  ? 
Mr.  Birkbeck  declines  the  responsibility  of  advising 
people  to  emigrate;  and  Mr.  Flower  says,  “Tell  your 
countrymen  to  stay  at  home  by  all  means,  if  they  can  keep 
their  comforts.” 

The  argument  for  and  against  speculation,  so  offensive 
and  repelling  to  emigrants  coming  to  the  prairies,  assumes 
the  following  shapes.  First,  It  is  necessary  to  keep  out 
the  Kentucky  non-resident  speculators,  who  are  capricious 
and  extravagant  in  their  demands  and  profits,  and  re¬ 
motely  situated.  Secondly,  It  is  reasonable  and  just  that 
speculators  of  capital,  living  on  the  spot,  and  who  [299] 
have  encountered  the  difficulties  of  first  settlers,  and 
smoothed  the  way  for  followers,  should  derive  some  re¬ 
muneration  from  the  latter,  who  now  find  themselves 
surrounded  with  neighbours,  facilities,  and  conveniences 
of  all  kinds.  Thirdly,  That  no  reasonable  man  can  come, 
expecting  to  have  the  land,  under  such  circumstances, 
at  the  Old  Congress  price.  Fourthly,  That  it  is  better 
worth  four  dollars  an  acre  now,  than  it  was  worth  two 
dollars,  when  they  found  it  an  inhospitable  wild.  Fifthly, 
That  as  they  have  bought  large  quantities  in  the  mass, 
good  and  bad  together,  without  knowing  that  they 


278 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


should  ever  sell  an  acre,  and  that  as  they  permit  people 
to  pick  and  choose,  leaving  much  unsaleable  land  on 
their  hands,  they  are  entitled  to  get  all  they  can  for 
what  is  good  and  saleable.  Against  it,  it  is  said.  First, 
It  is  never  right  to  do  evil  that  good  may  result;  but, 
as  evil  is  the  consequence  of  speculating,  it  is  unjust, 
unreasonable,  and  unnecessary;  and,  besides,  the  public 
would  rather  buy  of  native  than  of  English  specula¬ 
tors,  if  any  must  speculate,  and  it  is  better  that  nuisances 
should  live  at  a  distance.  Secondly,  That  no  beneficial 
improvements  being  made,  the  owners  are  not  entitled 
to  any  other  remuneration  than  what  naturally  results 
from  good  neighbourhood.  Thirdly,  That  no  reason¬ 
able  honest  man  could  desire  it,  under  such  circum¬ 
stances.  Fourthly,  That  it  is  foolish  and  impolitic  to 
buy  land  in  the  mass,  good  and  bad  together,  when 
an  infinite  supply  of  the  [300]  good  could  be  had  sepa¬ 
rately  in  a  better  situation.  Fifthly,  That  as  property 
is  created  gradually  by  population  only,  then  land,  with¬ 
out  followers,  must  sink  rather  than  rise  in  value.  Sixthly, 
That  as  speculation  had  driven  away  settlers  calculated 
to  improve  and  cultivate  land,  it  had  become  an  evil,  which 
should,  if  possible,  be  resisted  and  destroyed,  and  that  no 
country  affords  greater  facilities  than  America  for  resist¬ 
ing  the  prairie  speculation.  It  was  expected  of  English¬ 
men  that  they  came  to  farm,  not  to  speculate  and  prey 
upon  their  more  needy  countrymen. 

Sunday ,  2  8th. —  At  breakfast  this  morning,  Mr.  Flower, 
regretting  the  habit  of  duelling,  said,  that  a  lady  of  Lexing¬ 
ton,  finding  her  nephew  not  inclined  to  fight  a  duel, 
encouraged  him  to  go  out ;  and  immediately  on  his  depart¬ 
ing  for  the  fatal  spot,  said  to  her  black  servant,  “John, 
light  up  and  get  the  large  drawing-room  ready  for  the 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  Journal 


279 


reception  of  a  corpse.”  This  order  was  given  with  great 
sang  froid ;  and  in  less  than  an  hour,  the  room  was  occu¬ 
pied  by  the  corpse  of  her  nephew ! 

So  severely  is  the  want  of  labourers  felt  here,  that  Mr. 
Flower  said  he  would  pay  to  parishes  in  England  half 
the  expense  of  getting  their  surplus  poor  here. 

We  were  now  leaving  this  hospitable  family  and  the 
prairies,  perhaps,  for  ever.  We  exchanged  blessings,  and 
received  parcels,  letters,  and  kind  messages  for  friends 
in  England;  wild  flower-seeds  [301]  and  a  monstrous  acorn 
from  the  ladies,  and  a  racoon-skin  from  the  young  gentle¬ 
men,  for  a  lady  at  Royston.  “Enjoin,”  said  Mr.  G. 
Flower,  “all  those  of  our  friends,  who  come,  not  to  en¬ 
cumber  themselves  with  merchandize  and  ventures;  it 
is  certain  loss.  When  on  the  journey,  they  must  endure 
with  patience  unto  the  end,  or  they  will  lose  the  reward 
of  their  toil.  Tell  them  that  I,  whom  they  knew,  and 
my  father,  have  all  our  expectations  answered;  that  we 
believe  the  country  to  be  more  healthy  and  suitable  to 
Englishmen  than  any  part;  that  we  have  soil,  climate, 
and  market.  I  am  sure  that  were  Archer,  Greaves,  J. 
Foster,  and  Elias  Fordham  here,  they  would  enjoy  them¬ 
selves  more  than  in  any  other  place.  You  will,  of  course, 
tell  what  you  have  seen,  which  will  do  more  to  give  my 
acquaintance  a  correct  impression  than  a  hundred  letters. 
They  must  be  confounded  by  the  contradictory  state¬ 
ments  they  hear.” 

We  rode  off  on  our  way  to  Princeton,  Indiana,  through 
a  cold,  wet,  marshy  prairie,  over  which  hang  dense  fogs, 
and  on  which  lies  water  knee-deep  in  summer.  When 
seen  at  a  distance,  it  looks  like  a  large  lake  of  water,  but 
on  coming  into  it,  the  green  grass,  four  feet  high,  conceals 
the  stinking,  stagnant,  steaming  water. 


280 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


I  crossed  the  Big  Wabash,  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  at 
La  Valette’s  ferry,95  where  is  beautiful  land,  fine  young 
orchards,  and  two  lonely  families  [302]  of  naked-legged 
French  settlers,  from  whom  I  received  two  curious  ears 
of  poss  corn.  I  thus  quitted  lonely  Illinois,  in  which,  this 
morning,  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  one  running  spring. 
The  wild  ducks  on  the  river  were  very  fat  and  fine,  like 
our  tame  ones  in  England.  One  just  shot  floated  dead 
to  our  flat.  About  eight  miles  from  the  river,  we  crossed 
a  dismal  swamp  two  miles  wide,  which,  in  winter,  is  ten 
feet  deep  of  water  from  the  river,  and  cuts  off  communi¬ 
cation  with  Illinois,  except  by  water.  At  the  verge  of 
this  swamp,  I  stopped  at  a  farmer’s,  sick  and  yellow  with 
a  bilious  fever.  My  horse  escaped  from  me,  but  was 
stopped  by  Judge  Emberson.96  I  rode  all  day  without 
dinner,  but  reached  Princeton  to  a  good  supper  at  Brown’s 
tavern,  which,  but  for  Mr.  Birkbeck,  had  been  annihilated. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  seems  to  have  no  theory  on  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  the  ancient  mounds  and  fortifications  in  the  west¬ 
ern  country,  but  thinks  them  to  be  the  work  of  the  present 
race  of  Indians.  Nor  has  he  any  hypothesis  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  the  immense  prairies.  Though  but  partially 
planted  with  timber,  he  does  not  think  the  soil  unfriendly 
to  the  growth  of  it,  but  deems  the  cause  to  be  in  the  annual 
fires  which  run  over  the  surface,  checking  the  young  plants, 
or  destroying  the  seeds,  or  rather  in  a  want  of  seed;  and 
the  decaying,  dwarfish  appearance  of  the  trees,  he  attrib- 

95  La  Valette’s  ferry  crossed  the  Wabash  at  the  present  Illinois  town  of 
Rochester,  Wabash  County.  The  owner,  Auguste  La  Valette,  was  a  French  Ca¬ 
nadian,  greatly  respected  by  the  Indians  because  of  his  physical  strength;  while 
other  traders  along  the  Wabash  were  massacred,  he  was  left  undisturbed. —  Ed. 

98  Jesse  Emerson  came  from  Kentucky  (1811),  and  located  about* five  miles 
from  Princeton.  Upon  the  organization  of  Gibson  County  (1813),  he  was  made 
associate  justice  of  the  circuit  court,  holding  this  office  until  1820. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


28 1 


utes  to  the  same  fiery  cause.  That  the  prairies  have 
been  [303]  lakes  of  water  he  much  doubts.  General 
Evans,  a  gentleman  with  whom  I,  this  day,  held  an  inter¬ 
esting  conversation  on  the  subject,  and  who  has  explored 
the  prairie  country  generally,  thinks  that  as  they  are  con¬ 
tiguous  to  the  immense  lakes  of  Michigan,  &c.  without 
being  intercepted  by  any  hills  of  magnitude,  they  must 
have  been  formed  by  the  receding  of  the  lakes  of  which 
they  once  constituted  a  part,  and  to  this  day,  in  the  sand, 
traces  of  surf  and  driving  water  are  still  evident  on  and 
round  about  the  gentle  hills  and  skirts  of  the  prairies. 
This  idea  is  opposed  by  some,  because,  of  the  prairie  rivers, 
some  are  found  running  north  into  the  lakes,  and  others 
south  into  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississipi.  The  soil  and 
sand,  however,  of  the  prairies,  are  such  as  are  found  on 
the  lake  shores,  and  shew,  upon  and  below  the  surface, 
the  operations  of  water. 

For  the  general  purposes  of  agriculture,  the  intelligent 
General  considers  the  best  prairie  soil  to  be  deeper  and 
more  lasting  than  the  woodland,  though  at  present  more 
uncertain.  It  wants  more  rain,  and  frequently  fails  in 
droughty  seasons.  Cultivation,  he  conceives,  will  render 
it  less  porous  and  more  retentive  of  moisture:  time  is 
necessary  for  rotting  the  tough,  wiry  grass-roots;  its  rich¬ 
ness  and  durability  are  proved  by  its  having  been  con¬ 
stantly  in  cultivation  at  Vincennes,  during  the  last  200 
years.  The  best  prairies  known  in  this  country,  abound¬ 
ing  with  healthy  situations,  and  [304]  fine  running  never- 
failing  springs,  sufficient  for  mill-streams,  he  saw  from 
70  to  100  miles  above  Birkbeck’s,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Wabash,  up  to  its  head  waters,  beyond  Fort  Harrison,97 

97  For  a  brief  account  of  Fort  Harrison,  see  Woods’s  English  Prairie,  volume 
x  of  our  series,  note  69. —  Ed. 


282 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


and  extending  to  the  lake-streams.  Between  the  Wa¬ 
bash,  and  a  lake  river,  is  only  nine  miles  of  land  carriage. 
Here  is  the  richest  land  in  the  western  country,  though 
at  present  more  distantly  situated  from  market.  The 
waters  of  the  lakes,  he  thinks,  have  recently  experienced 
no  diminution. 

29 th. —  Two  years  ago,  a  young  Yankee,  of  the  name 
of  Williams,  became  the  object  of  a  malicious  prosecution 
here,  on  suspicion  of  robbing  a  store.  Circumstantial 
evidence  of  the  worst  kind  only  could  be  adduced,  and 
he  was,  as  is  common  in  this  country,  acquitted.  The 
people  of  the  place,  however,  prejudiced  against  him,  as 
a  Yankee,  deputed  four  persons  to  inform  him,  that  un¬ 
less  he  quitted  the  town  and  state  immediately,  he  should 
receive  Lynch’s  law,  that  is,  a  whipping  in  the  woods. 
He  departed,  with  his  wife  and  child,  next  day,  on  foot; 
but  in  the  woods,  four  miles  from  Princeton,  they  were 
overtaken  by  two  men,  armed  with  guns,  dogs,  and  a  whip, 
who  said  they  came  to  whip  him,  unless  he  would  confess 
and  discover  to  them  the  stolen  money,  so  that  they  might 
have  it.  He  vainly  expostulated  with  them;  but,  in  con¬ 
sideration  of  his  wife’s  entreaties  and  cries,  they  remitted 
his  sentence  to  thirteen  lashes.  One  man  then  bound 
[305]  him  to  a  tree  and  lashed  him  with  a  cow-hide  whip, 
while  the  other  held  and  gagged  him;  the  alarmed  wife, 
all  the  time,  shrieking  murder.  He  was  then  untied, 
and  told  to  depart  from  the  state  immediately,  or  he  should 
receive  another  whipping  on  the  morrow,  as  a  warning 
and  terror  to  all  future  coming  Yankees. 

This  poor  fellow  was  of  respectable  parents  at  Berlin, 
in  the  state  of  New  York,  and  possessed  a  well-informed 
mind.  He  quitted  the  state,  and  returning,  soon  after, 
to  prosecute  his  executioners,  died  at  Evansville,  before 


1 


1818-1819]  Faux's  Journal  283 

he  had  effected  so  desirable  an  object.  Here  was  liberty, 
with  a  vengeance !  This  poor  fellow,  a  victim  to  popular 
prejudice,  had  the  liberty  to  travel  3,000  miles  on  foot, 
twice,  to  this  state,  for  a  settlement;  and  no  sooner  was 
he  in  it,  than  the  inhabitants  had  the  liberty  to  whip  him 
out  again.  He  left  behind  him  an  account  of  his  journey, 
and  of  the  treatment  he  here  received.  In  walking 
through  Kentucky,  he  found  the  people  very  inhospitable 
towards  him,  because  he  was  a  walking,  working  Yankee 
man,  on  a  journey,  and,  therefore,  considered  as  nothing 
better  than,  or  below,  a  nigger. 

Thieving,  it  must  be  observed,  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
places,  thought  to  be  most  inexcusable,  is  here  deemed 
worse  than  murder,  in  consequence  of  the  very  great 
facility  of  living. 

,30 th. —  Introduced  last  night  to,  and  slept  at  the  farm 
log-house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Devan,  the  [306]  minister  of  a 
congregation,  and  one  of  the  members  of  a  convention  to 
form  the  government  of  this  state.98  He  is  a  self-taught 
man  of  considerable  intelligence,  originality,  and  amusing 
anecdote,  living  on  a  quarter  section  of  the  richest  land 
I  ever  saw,  bearing  Indian  corn,  fifteen  feet  high,  yielding 
80  bushels  an  acre.  He  has  more  land  than  he  occupies. 
His  family  is  numerous;  his  hogs  almost  innumerable, 
400  in  the  wood,  many  wild,  and  breeding  faster  in  a  wild, 
than  in  a  tame  state.  From  these,  the  squatters  supply 
themselves,  in  defiance  of  a  strict  law  against  the  act. 
Then  the  wolves,  wild  cats,  and  bears,  destroy,  annually, 
a  great  number.  Until  pigs  are  weaned,  the  wild  animals 

98  Reverend  Alexander  Devin  was  a  member  of  the  convention  to  form  a 
state  constitution,  which  met  at  Corydon,  June,  1816.  Bom  in  Pittsylvania 
County,  Virginia,  he  removed  first  to  Kentucky,  thence  to  Indiana  in  the  vi¬ 
cinity  of  Princeton  (1808).  He  was  one  of  the  first  Baptist  preachers  in  Gibson 
County. —  Ed. 


284 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


destroy  them  by  cunningly  quarrelling  with  the  sow, 
while  a  party  of  the  wolves  seize  the  pigs  in  their  nests. 
Mr.  Devan,  this  morning,  shot  a  fat  pig  between  the  eyes; 
it  fell  dead  instantly;  the  English  mode,  he  says,  is  mur¬ 
der.  He  offered  me  a  fine  pet  deer,  which  follows  him 
everywhere,  leaping  over  ten  feet  fences,  and  giving  chace 
to  the  fleetest  dogs,  which  she  instantly  distances.  She 
holds  communication  with  the  wild  bucks  of  the  wood, 
three  or  four  of  which  follow  her.  I  regretted  that  I  could 
not  transport  this  beautiful  animal. 

Mr.  Devan  manufactures  and  cultivates  the  tea  of 
China;  I  received  from  him  some  seed  and  tea  for  use. 
The  shrub  resembles  young  quicking,  or  two  years  old 
hawthorn.  Its  seed  should  be  sown  in  [307]  the  autumn, 
and  it  will  vegetate  in  May.  He  states  that  flax  and  cur¬ 
rants  are  found  wild  in  perfection,  1,500  miles  up  the 
Missouri  territory,  where  also  buffaloes  are  tamed  for 
the  yoke.  He  has  a  fine  apple  orchard,  yielding  plenty 
of  fruit,  the  third  year  after  being  planted  small  from  the 
nursery,  and  peach-trees  from  the  seed,  growing  faster 
than  osiers  in  England,  being  now  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
feet  high,  full  of  bearing  branches.  Fifteen  years  in 
England  would  not,  I  think,  produce  such  an  orchard. 
He  has  twelve  children,  and  expects  to  leave  them  one 
quarter  section  each  of  improved  rich  land.  The  old 
gentleman  tells  many  anecdotes  respecting  the  uncommon 
cunning  of  the  Indians.  He  believes  that  Birkbeck  is 
sinking  his  capital  by  unskilful  purchases  and  manage¬ 
ment,  and  by  employing  bad  labourers,  and  omitting  to 
cultivate.  But  the  money  goes,  never  to  return.  His 
land  may  rise  to  15  or  20  dollars  an  acre,  if  he  keeps  it. 
He  believes  that  skilful  capitalists,  even  here  in  Indiana, 
after  the  second  or  third  year,  might  enrich  themselves 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


285 


from  hired  labour.  Some  have  done  it.  Riches  are  rela¬ 
tive  things.  Capitalists,  however,  not  working  themselves, 
would  gain  more  money,  in  a  good  slave  state,  with  good 
negroes.  He  thinks  that  J.  Ingle’s  land  is  poor,  but  use¬ 
ful.  An  old  settler  upon  it,  says  he,  never  got  more  than 
twenty  bushels  of  wheat  an  acre,  after  corn;  but,  if  fal¬ 
lowed,  it  would  bring  much  more;  as  it  is,  fifteen  or  six¬ 
teen  is  the  average. 

[308]  Mr.  Devan,  when  preaching  at  Mr.  Ingle’s, 
stripped  at  it,  taking  off  coat,  waistcoat,  and  cravat,  un¬ 
buttoning  his  shirt  collar,  and  wildly  throwing  about  his 
arms.  He  made  the  maddest  gesticulations,  for  the  space 
of  two  hours,  ever  seen  in  a  man  professing  sanity.  At 
parting  with  this  eccentric,  warm,  true-hearted  man,  I 
said,  ‘  ‘Tell  me  honestly  whether  or  not  we  English  should 
emigrate  hither?”  “In  the  language  of  the  apostle,” 
answered  he,  “Be  ye  content  with  such  things  as  ye 
have.  Remain  where  providence  has  placed  you;  but 
send  me  your  travels.”  Be  not  offended,  friend 
Devan ! 

December  1st. —  Returned  to  Mr.  Ingle’s  this  evening. 
Till  within  the  last  five  days,  the  last  month  has  been 
warmer  than  an  English  summer,  the  mercury  varying 
between  65  and  72,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  all- 
pervading  smoke,  which  vanished  on  the  first  coming  rain, 
it  has  been  the  brightest  and  most  delightful  month  I 
ever  saw.  How  unlike  an  English  November!  I  met, 
and  shall  meet  daily,  at  the  same  table,  J.  Pedley,  a  native 
of  Sutton,  near  Ely,  once  my  father’s  plough-boy,  who, 
with  his  wife  and  children,  has  begged  his  way  to  America, 
and  all  through  it,  1,200  miles,  to  this  place.  The  greatly 
needed  hospitality  and  kindness  which  they  met  with,  in 
passing  down  the  river,  in  a  pennyless  condition,  are 


286 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


highly  honourable  to  this  good  poor-man’s  country.  Our 
neighbour,  Major  Hooker,  has  killed  fourteen  [309]  deer 
and  one  bear.  The  deer  now  killed,  in  such  abundance, 
fine  and  fat,  are  merely  skinned,  and  the  hind  quarters 
taken,  while  all  the  rest  is  left  rotting  on  the  ground. 
Cook  also  met  a  fine  bear,  which  after  he  had  fired  thrice 
at  it,  in  great  rage  chased  its  destroyer,  while  the  dogs 
were  worrying  its  hind  quarters;  and,  but  for  the  dogs, 
Cook  had  been  worried  by  the  bear.  Two  balls  more 
brought  it  to  the  ground,  wondrous  fat  and  fine,  a  daily 
repast,  three  times  a-day,  in  steaks,  for  our  table,  and  its 
skin  for  wigs  for  ipy  host’s  aged  sire,  the  patriarch  of 
Slyers.  This  morning  Mr.  Ingle,  in  descending  a  ladder 
from  his  cock-loft  bed-room,  into  which  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  peep,  and  all  the  winds  and  storms  of  heaven  blow 
upon  us,  was  left  suspended  by  his  arms  to  the  chamber- 
floor,  while  the  ladder  fell  from  under  him.  Such  are 
the  miserable  shifts  to  which  people  here  submit  without 
grumbling. 

2nd. —  Both  our  wooden  chimneys  caught  fire,  which 
soon  would  have  left  us  in  the  woods  without  a  shelter. 
One  building  so  fired,  containing  3,000  dollars  worth  of 
store  goods.  What  folly  to  build  wooden  chimneys,  as 
though  a  wooden  house  were  not  hazardous  enough !  But 
a  stone  chimney  would  cost  a  few  dollars.  Rather,  too, 
than  dig  a  well  at  the  door,  Mr.  Ingle  and  others  yoke  out 
a  horse  and  water-cart,  bringing  twelve  gallons  at  a  time 
from  a  mile  distance,  having,  he  states,  since  he  came 
here,  spent,  in  this  work,  700  valuable  [310]  hours,  much 
more  than  equal  to  digging  the  well.  I  feel  mad  with 
people  imposing  inconveniences  upon  themselves,  which 
they  would  not  have  submitted  to  at  home,  though  they 
might  have  gained  by  it. 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


287 


Saw  twenty-two  chattering  parroquets  on  one  bough." 
Mr.  Ingle,  this  day,  offered  ten  dollars  an  acre  for  cutting 
down  all  the  timber,  burning  some  with  the  grubbing,  and 
sawing  others  into  three  lengths,  but  it  was  refused. 

A  young  man  came  to  the  door  and  boldly  asked  if 
he  could  have  a  breakfast  with  us,  and  a  job  of  work  after. 

During  the  last  month,  three  travellers  in  the  state  of 
Illinois,  on  the  lonely  road  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis, 
and  one  in  Indiana,  were  murdered;  two  being  shot,  and 
two  having  their  throats  cut,  one  of  whom  recovered  suffi¬ 
ciently  to  tell  his  tale.  The  unfortunate  man  in  Indiana 
was  sleeping  at  a  lone  tavern,  in  a  room  with  another.  In 
the  morning,  the  landlord  found  that  both  were  gone, 
but  following  the  traces  of  blood  on  the  floor,  and  along 
the  road,  into  the  wood,  they  found  the  body  covered  with 
leaves.  Law  and  justice  extend  not  thus  far  at  present. 

I  met  Mr.  Maidlow,  jun.,  who  has  abandoned  his  wife 
in  England.  She  would  not  come.  I  saw  also  a  poor 
man,  of  the  name  of  Hall,  just  come  from  Surrey,  where 
he  was  a  gardener,  and  during  his  last  year  lost  50/. 
Finding  it  impossible  [31 1]  to  live  without  spending  all, 
he  came  away  with  money  enough  to  enter  half  a  quarter 
section.  The  gentry  of  Surrey,  who  respected  him,  en¬ 
deavoured  to  prevent  his  coming. 

9 th. —  Owing  to  want  of  pot-hooks,  which  are  dispensed 
with,  because  they  cost  money,  we  lost  our  dinner.  The 
pot,  placed  on  the  fire,  became  dried,  and  pudding,  meat, 
and  sauce,  all  took  fire,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  were 
burnt  up.  A  blacksmith  lives  close  by  who  could  make 
pot-hooks,  but  it  is  said  a  pair  from  Pittsburgh,  900  miles 
off,  will  cost  less  money;  they  therefore  wait,  suffering 

99  For  a  brief  note  on  the  paroquets  of  this  region,  see  Cuming’s  Tour,  vol¬ 
ume  iv  of  our  series,  note  108. —  Ed. 


288 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


the  pot  to  fire,  or  tumble  off  the  logs.  There  are  several 
English  families  living  without  bread,  butter,  milk,  tea 
or  coffee,  for  months,  who,  if  deprived  of  one  of  those 
articles  in  England,  would  have  cursed  it  and  all  in  it,  as 
the  worst  country  under  heaven.  Some  three  families 
cook  and  bake  in  one  iron  skillet,  called  the  cook-all, 
though  plenty  might  be  bought,  or  ovens  made  of  the  stone 
near  them.  Some  boast  of  having  learnt  to  do  without 
sugar,  because  it  is  so  dear  in  this  untaxed  land,  flowing 
with  sugar,  milk,  and  honey!  It  is,  perhaps,  wise  to 
reduce  our  wants,  or  rather  necessaries. 

Met  Mr.  Stockwell,100  who  is  intimately  acquainted 
with  Messrs.  Birkbeck  and  Flower.  He  says  that  the 
former,  though  he  refused  purchasing  land  for  his  friends 
in  England,  is  now  turning  over  his  own  unsaleable  land 
to  them.  He  has  [312]  done  no  one  thing  which  he  prom¬ 
ised  to  do.  Corn  was  carried  in  skiffs,  from  Harmony, 
down  the  Wabash,  at  the  enormous  cost  of  two  dollars  a 
bushel,  yet  the  settlement  has  plenty  of  labourers,  land, 
and  horses.  Mr.  Birkbeck  is  very  much  embarrassed, 
and  G.  Flower  very  short  of  cash.  The  flock  of  sheep 
must  perish,  or  subject  him  to  great  loss.  When  Mr. 
Stockwell  called,  in  the  summer,  on  Mr.  Birkbeck,  the 
family  was  not  up.  He  rode  to  the  house,  through  watery 
swamps  and  wondrous  fogs,  insomuch  that  Mr.  Birkbeck 
found  it  necessary  to  apologize  for  the  weather'  and  the 
fogs,  saying,  “it  was  the  first  fog  seen,  all  summer.”  Mr. 
Stockwell  is  sure  that  all  the  prairies,  known  to  him,  are 
naturally  sickly,  from  the  lakes  north,  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  south.  The  cause  is  natural,  and  not  to  be  com- 

100  Robert  Stockwell  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania  (1785), 
and  when  a  boy  removed  with  his  parents  to  Kentucky.  In  1816  he  settled  at 
Princeton,  where  for  many  years  he  kept  a  store. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  'Journal 


289 


pletely  removed  in  this  climate.  The  numerous  deaths, 
and  the  yellow  appearance  of  the  native  settlers,  are  proofs 
not  to  be  disputed.  Mr.  B  irk  beck  felt  sure  of  construct¬ 
ing  a  plough,  (which  he  did)  and  ploughing  up  the  tough 
prairie  turf,  with  a  very  small  horse  power,  but  he  broke 
his  plough  at  the  beginning,  and  instead  of  100  acres  of 
com,  had  half  an  acre  of  potatoes!  The  experienced 
native  farmers  have  found  from  six  to  eight  oxen  necessary 
for  breaking  up  the  land  in  the  autumn;  then  it  lies  till 
spring,  and  in  summer  is  fallowed,  and  lies  a  second  winter 
till  spring;  then,  being  completely  rotten,  it  is  sown  with 
corn. 

[313]  I  dined  to-day  with  Mr.  Wheeler,  a  mealman  and 
baker,  from  Chelsea,  who,  having  a  wife  and  eight  chil¬ 
dren,  was  determined  on  emigration,  by  soberly  looking 
into  his  affairs,  and  finding  that  he  had  an  increasing 
family  and  decreasing  property,  having  lost,  during  his 
last  year,  amongst  his  tradesmen,  1,500/.  He  came  here 
in  expectation  of  finding  America  a  land  of  labour,  and 
had  confidence  in  the  prospect.  He  is  nbt  deceived,  and 
expects  many  to  follow  him,  but  shall  advise  them  all  to 
come  in  their  working  jackets,  and  do  as  he  and  his  family 
do,  hew  and  split  wood,  and  clear  land  themselves,  without 
hiring.  He  finds  that  a  house  here,  though  he  grows  the 
wood,  will  cost  nearly  as  much  as  a  brick-house  in  England, 
finished  both  in  the  same  style;  the  finishing  determines 
the  expense.  He  gave  us  for  dinner  a  fine  wild  turkey, 
weighing  2olbs.  The  wild  cat  is  a  tiger  cat ;  it  kills  the 
deer  and  pigs. 

Mr.  Kelhorn  never  expected  to  gain  money  by  farming, 
but  only  by  the  increased  rate  of  land.  He  is  sorry  that 
he  settled  not  near  flourishing  Maddison,  on  land,  at  five 
dollars  per  acre.  He  abhors  the  prairies,  which  are  all 


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Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


sickly,  being  either  without  water  or  drowned,  with  skiffs 
moving  over  swamps,  covered  with  pestilent  fogs  and 
steamy  heats.  Birkbeck  must  fail,  and  Flower  too ! 

1 6 th. —  Visited  Scott’s  still-house,  now  building  of 
rough  logs,  where  corn  and  rye  are  to  be  turned  [314] 
into  whiskey,  half  of  which  goes  to  the  distiller;  the  grain 
to  be  brought,  and  the  spirits  to  be  carried  away  at  the 
farmer’s  cost;  so  making  the  spirits  as  dear,  if  not  dearer, 
than  what  can  be  bought  of  spirit-merchants.  Besides, 
it  is  expected  that  Scott  will  take  the  best  half  for  himself. 

Farmer  Montgomery  came  10  miles  this  morning  with 
one  of  his  fat  bullocks  to  kill  for  the  English  here.  He 
killed  and  dressed  it  himself,  or  rather  murdered  it.  The 
animal  is  either  shot,  or  knocked  down,  in  any  part  of 
the  yard;  then  it  is  skinned  and  cut  out  immediately,  not 
jointed,  or  cut  into  joints,  but  quartered,  while  hot,  and 
drenched  in  blood,  for  it  is  not  hung  up  to  cool  and  dry. 
I  begged  for  J.  Pedley,  the  fine  fat  head  and  horns  which 
the  pigs  had  begun  to  devour.  The  farmer  will  not  carry 
any  out,  but  makes  people  come  for  it,  and  waits,  if  it  is 
two  days,  or  until  all  is  sold.  It  was  a  fine  treat  to  us,  as 
we  had  not  tasted  tame  meat  for  the  last  fortnight;  noth¬ 
ing  but  lean,  poor  venison.  I  bought  half  a  quarter,  at 
four  cents  a  pound,  and  fine  beef  it  was. 

Mr.  Maidlow  has  bought  several  loads  of  corn,  at  thirty- 
three  cents  a  bushel,  1 6d.  English,  and  carted  by  the 
farmer,  twelve  miles,  into  the  bargain.  Forty  bushels  is 
a  load  for  four  horses,  through  the  worst  roads,  taking  two 
days,  at  four  dollars  a  day  for  carriage,  so  leaving  only  17 s. 
sterling,  for  forty  bushels,  to  the  poor  farmer !  Or  if 
bought  at  25  cents,  as  it  often  is,  only  9s.  for  the  40 
bushels!!  [315]  But  surely  imperious  necessity  only  can 
compel  the  farmer  so  to  sell,  because  if  able  to  keep  it  until 


1818-1819] 


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291 


summer,  he  gains  from  100  to  200  per  cent.;  but  he  is 
sued  and  the  corn  goes.  And  in  summer  he  buys  it  at 
one  dollar  per  bushel,  for  his  own  eating ! 

Fifty  cents  is  the  usual  price  of  carriage  for  ioolbs.  for 
every  20  miles;  sometimes  higher,  never  lower.  One 
bushel  of  corn  weighs  50  to  56lbs.,  so  that  if  it  was  hauled 
by  weight,  it  would  not  pay  the  carriage  for  20  miles. 

Western  labourers,  some  of  whom  are  quarter-section 
farmers,  very  poor,  dirty,  and  wretched,  because  idle  and 
semi-barbarians,  work  about  half  the  day  and  camp  out 
all  night,  in  all  seasons  and  weathers.  They  surround  a 
large  fire,  and  lie  on  leaves  under  a  clap-board  tent,  or 
wooden  umbrella,  wrapped  in  a  blanket,  with  their  clothes 
on.  Their  houses  and  families  (if  any)  are  perhaps, 
from  12  to  20  miles  off,  to  whom  they  go  when  the  job  is 
done,  or  their  shirts  are  rotting  off  their  backs.  They 
rarely  shave,  but  clip  off  the  beard,  and  their  flesh  is  never 
washed;  they  look  pale,  wan,  yellow,  and  smoke-dried. 
They  live  on  the  deer  which  they  shoot.  They  are  high- 
minded,  not  suffering  their  children  to  go  to  service,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  disgraceful,  but  not  so  to  live  at  home,  in  rags, 
idleness,  and  filth.  The  father  is  seldom  at  home,  because 
of  being  sued.  If  he  has  land,  he  farms  it  not,  because  of 
bailiffs.  He  must  then  [316]  work  out,  until  judgment 
is  had  against  him;  when  he  either  pays  or  makes  arrange¬ 
ments,  or  the  property,  real  and  personal,  is  sold.  These 
labourers,  though  complete  workmen  when  they  like,  are 
pests  to  the  English  farmers  for  whom  they  work,  gen¬ 
erally,  at  meals,  haunting  the  fire-side,  where  they  stand 
in  pairs  with  their  backs  towards  the  fire,  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  family,  at  whom  they  gaze,  expecting  to  be  asked  to 
dinner,  breakfast,  or  supper.  They  come  too,  for  work, 
and  brush  in  at  meal  times  with  their  hats  on,  expecting 


292 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  x1 


to  be  fed;  but  they  never  invite  themselves,  nor  express 
thanks  if  invited ;  and  if  requested  to  reach  this  or  that  to 
the  host,  they  do  it  ungraciously,  saying,  ‘ ‘Why,  I  can,  I 
guess.”  If  the  female  of  the  family  is  in  bed,  they  stand 
and  see  her  get  out  and  dress.  They  will  not  be  affronted 
with  impunity,  and  it  is  necessary  to  shew  or  threaten 
them  with  a  pistol.  When  the  English  first  came  to 
Evansville  settlement,  these  Rowdey  labourers  had  nearly 
scared  them  out.  Time  is  not  property  to  these  men; 
they  are  eternal  triflers. 

Visited  Evansville  on  the  bluffs  of  Ohio.  Behind  it  is 
an  almost  impassable  road  through  a  sickly  swamp,  none 
of  which  near  the  road  is  yet  cultivated.  It  seems  too 
wet.  Here  I  met  a  few  English  mechanics  regretting  they 
had  left  England,  where  they  think  they  could  do  better. 
J.  Pedley,  though  he  does  well,  says  he  would  not  have 
come  could  he  have  known  what  he  must  [317]  have 
suffered.  Apples  are  here  selling  in  boats  from  Cincinnati 
at  eight  dollars  per  barrel,  and  flour  at  eight  dollars.  A 
barrel  of  apples  is  two  bushels  and  a  half,  and  the  barrel 
of  flour  contains  five  bushels  of  wheat  which,  to  the  con¬ 
sumer  here,  costs  eight  shillings  sterling  per  bushel,  though 
wheat  is  only  75  cents,  or  35.  6 d.  a  bushel. 

Cook,  yesterday,  shot  another  bear.  He  was  camping 
out,  and  in  the  dead  of  the  night  saw  Bruin,  and  with  the 
first  fire  broke  his  neck.  He  weighed  4oolbs.  I  bought 
the  skin  at  four  dollars;  worth  four  pounds  in  England. 

The  wolves  last  night  howled  horribly  and  prowled  into 
town. 

The  case  of  first  settlers  here,  particularly  English,  is 
hard,  and  their  characteristic  selfishness  by  no  means 
tends  to  soften  it.  Nothing  is  to  be  had  in  the  shape  of 
necessaries  but  with  great  trouble,  not  even  butter,  cheese, 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  'Journal 


293 


or  meat.  They  think  that  these  are  more  trouble  than 
they  are  worth,  and  that  it  is  better  to  do  without.  The 
Americans  make  no  trouble  of  it.  If  they  can  have  money 
or  credit,  and  can  get  good  things,  they  have  them.  The 
English  are  too  selfish  to  be  provident;  their  boast  is  that 
they  can  do  without  such  a  thing,  and  the  habit  of  doing 
without  is  esteemed  a  fine  thing,  and  causes  those  who 
express  dissatisfaction  to  be  despised.  Thus  my  country¬ 
men  barbarize. 

A  skiff,  last  week  before  daylight,  was  seen  floating  on 
the  Ohio,  having  in  it  one  oar,  a  suit  [318]  of  shabby 
English  clothes,  two  watches,  and  a  small  keg  of  whiskey 
half  full.  The  owner,  it  was  supposed,  had  tumbled  out 
and  was  drowned,  as  have  been  many  English  before,  on 
this  excursion  down  the  river. 

The  Rowdies  of  Kentucky,  and  in  thinly  settled  parts 
of  Tenessee  where  they  are  farmers,  frequently  decoy 
travellers,  supposed  to  have  money,  out  of  the  road,  and 
then  shoot  them.  A  traveller,  some  two  or  three  years 
since,  had  taken  money  near  Red  Banks,101  and  was  way¬ 
laid  in  the  above  manner  by  two  farmer  Rowdies,  who 
shot  him  and  were  detected  in  the  act,  bearing  away  the 
traveller’s  horse  and  carriage.  One  was  hanged,  and  the 
other  nearly  whipped  to  death,  and  ordered  out  of  the 
state  by  the  regulators,  without  time  to  sell  his  property. 
At  another  time  the  regulators  overtook  and  shot  a  mur¬ 
derer,  and  stuck  his  head  on  a  pole  in  Tenessee. 

These  regulators  are  self-appointed  ministers  of  justice, 
to  punish  or  destroy  those  whom  the  law  cannot  touch, 
such  as  suspected  persons,  persons  acquitted  through  false 
witnesses,  or  lack  of  good  evidence,  but  whom  public 

101  For  the  early  history  of  Red  Banks,  see  Cuming’s  Tour  in  our  volume  iv, 
note  175. —  Ed. 


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Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


opinion  deems  guilty.  Such  individuals  rarely  benefit  by 
a  legal  acquittal.  Whipping,  death,  or  banishment,  is 
inflicted  by  these  regulators.  The  law,  in  itself  inefficient, 
permits  or  winks  at  such  matters. 

Judge  Waggoner,  who  is  a  notorious  hog-stealer,  was 
recently  accused,  while  sitting  on  the  bench,  [319]  by 
Major  Hooker,  the  hunter,  gouger,  whipper,  and  nose- 
biter,  of  stealing  many  hogs,  and  being,  although  a  judge, 
the  greatest  rogue  in  the  United  States.  This  was  the 
Major’s  answer  to  the  question  Guilty ,  or  Not  Guilty ,  on 
an  indictment  presented  against  him.  The  court  laughed, 
and  the  Judge  raved,  and  bade  Hooker  go  out  and  he 
would  fight  him.  The  Major  agreed,  but  said,  “ Judge, 
you  shall  go  six  miles  into  the  woods,  and  the  longest  liver 
shall  come  back  to  tell  his  tale!”  The  Judge  would  not 
go.  The  Major  was  now,  in  his  turn,  much  enraged  by 
the  Judge  ordering  him  into  court  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten 
dollars  for  some  former  offence,  the  present  indictment 
being  suffered  to  drop. 

17 th. —  I  was  visited  this  day  by  General  Johnson,102  a 
gentlemanly  man,  and  Judge  M’Creary,103  both  of  this 
state,  the  latter  of  whom  is  a  preacher,  and  a  shrewd,  ex¬ 
perienced,  well-informed  man,  whom  I  promised  to  visit, 
but  regret  I  did  not.  He  said,  ‘  T  will  keep  you  well;  come 
and  stay  a  month  or  so,  and  I’ll  find  you  a  good  horse  to 
carry  you  whithersoever  you  list.”  His  son,  a  fine  rustic 

102  General  George  Washington  Johnston  was  a  native  of  Culpepper  County, 
Virginia.  Beginning  the  practice  of  law  at  Vincennes  in  1793,  he  was  twice 
elected  a  circuit  court  judge,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  territorial  legislature. 
He  published  the  acts  of  the  Indiana  legislature  for  the  years  1807-14. —  Ed. 

103  John  McCrary  (1771-1859)  emigrated  from  North  Carolina  to  Tennessee 
and  later  to  Indiana,  settling  in  Vanderburgh  County  in  1818.  Although  not  a 
trained  lawyer,  he  was  appointed  a  circuit  court  judge  (1818),  being  also  a  Pres¬ 
byterian  minister  and  revivalist.  In  1835  he  removed  to  Illinois. —  Ed. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


295 


youth  of  gentle  manners,  presented  me  segars  of  his  own 
growth  and  making,  better  than  the  Spanish. 

“For  the  appropriation  of  land,”  said  the  judge,  “I  pre¬ 
fer  the  western  country;  but  for  information  and  educa¬ 
tion,  the  eastern  states.”  He  complains  greatly  of  the 
choice  of  land  made  here  by  [320]  the  British.  He  won¬ 
ders  they  could  not  better  inform  themselves,  because 
when  they  came,  there  was  plenty  of  good  land  to  be  had, 
if  not  in  bodies,  yet  in  sections,  or  half-sections.  “The 
soil,”  said  he,  “is  as  thin  as  a  clapboard,  or  a  deer-skin. 
I  would  not  give  one  of  my  quarter-sections  for  all  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  barrens.  They  must  have  been 
deceived  by  speculators.  But  all  the  English  must  herd 
together.”  He  deems  Birkbeck’s  land  much  better;  it  is 
good  land.  “If  the  land,  settled  on  by  the  deceived 
British,  and  thus  near  the  Ohio,  had  been  good,  it  would 
have  been  entered  long  ago.  I  gave  my  opinion,  as  above, 
to  Hornbrook,  the  father  of  the  settlement,  whom  it 
offended.  I  did  not  intend  it;  I  was  only  giving  him  a 
friendly  opinion,  the  result  of  my  long  experience  in  this 
state;  but  I  smoothed  him  over  a  little,  and  said,  “the  soil 
would,  though  thin,  deepen  and  improve.” 

20 th. —  This  day  four  acres  of  woodland,  (not  thickly 
wooded)  were  put  out  to  clear  in  the  following  manner, 
at  ten  dollars  an  acre,  half  in  cash,  half  in  store  goods. 
All  the  wood  to  be  cut  down  and  burnt,  save  what  is 
wanted  for  fencing  the  land  with  rails  in  the  worm  fashion, 
which  rails  they  are  to  make  and  plant,  and  to  root  up  the 
small  roots,  which  is  called  grubbing,  so  as  to  render  the 
land  fit  for  the  plough;  and  the  grubbings  are  to  be  burnt. 
Thus  land  at  twelve  dollars  an  acre  is  bought  and  made 
fit  for  the  plough. 

[321]  I  visited  Mr.  Canson  and  his  agreeable  wife,  both 


296 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


young  people,  and  one  of  the  thirty-nine  families,  for 
whom  Mr.  Fearon  was  deputed  to  find  an  asylum.  He 
brought  a  respectable  sum,  1,500/.  and  now  cares  not 
about  any  business,  except  that  of  growing  produce  enough 
for  his  own  consumption.  He  will  receive  Mr.  Potts,  a 
neighbour,  as  his  partner  in  farming,  not  caring  much 
about  profits.  This  freedom  from  care  is  a  fine  thing. 
On  his  marriage  in  London,  where  he  was  a  school-master, 
he  protested  against  all  the  absurdities  of  the  marriage 
ceremony.  When  he  removes  from  this  settlement,  it 
will  be  into  the  eastern  states. 

215'/. — -  Met  young  Delaware  Armstrong,  the  handsome 
simple  son  of  a  hunting  Rowdey  farmer,  who  grew  only 
80  bushels  of  corn  off  his  whole  farm  last  year. 

This  young  man  states  his  blood  to  be  half  Irish,  half 
Scotch  from  his  grandfather.  He  likes  an  English  girl  as 
well,  or  better  than  an  American,  if,  as  a  wife,  she  could 
but  make  his  clothes.  But  at  any  rate  she  must  milk;  he 
could  not  neglect  his  business  to  milk.  Milking  is  dis¬ 
graceful;  or,  if  he  agrees  to  do  the  milking,  she  must  do 
all  the  washing  herself,  though  it  is  common  for  him,  and 
his  father,  and  other  farmers  to  assist  in  the  washing. 
“Many  a  day,”  said  he,  “have  I  and  father  washed.”  I 
said,  if  he  agreed  to  milk  for  his  English  wife,  who  cer¬ 
tainly  would  not,  he  must  always  do  it,  or  she  would  comb 
his  hair,  [322]  pull  his  ears,  scratch  his  eyes,  or  take  the 
hot  poker  to  him.  ‘  T  can’t  always  milk,  and  she  would 
thus  act  only  once;  but  if  we  could  not  agree,  I  would  go  to 
Squire  Russel’s  and  be  parted.  I  would  leave  her,  and 
marry  again  in  another  state.  But  if  she  did  scratch  and 
poker  me,  I  would  knock  her  down,  and  the  devil’s  a  hog, 
if  I  would  not  kill  her.”  Before  this,  he  said  his  mode  of 
courtship  would  be,  on  the  first  time  of  meeting,  to  put 


1818-1819] 


Faux  s  Journal 


297 


the  question  whether  she  would  have  him;  he  should  see 
at  first  sight  if  she  liked  him;  he  would  not  try  again  if  she 
refused  him.  I  told  him  our  ladies  always  refused  at  first, 
though  they  meant  otherwise,  and  wished  him  to  come 
again,  and  look  silly,  and  say  little  things.  “That,”  said 
he,  “cannot  be  right;  she  cannot  be  an  honest  woman 
who  so  acts.”  “But,”  said  I,  “you  must  get  your 
quarter-sections,  horse,  cows,  pigs,  orchard,  & c.,  before 
you  take  an  English  wife;  she  likes  all  these  things.” 
‘  ‘ Aye,  but  I  would  not  let  her  know  that  I  had  any  thing 
but  what’s  on  my  back;  she  should  not  have  me  at  all; 
for  all  I  should  want  her  to  bring  from  her  father  would 
be  decent  clothes,  and  a  bed  and  bedding.  You  English 
despise  a  man,  and  leave  him  to  starve  in  England,  if  he 
is  poor.  We  are  a  hospitable  people.  If  a  fellow,  sick 
or  poor,  comes  to  us,  we  feed,  and  keep,  and  treat  him  as 
one  of  the  family  as  long  as  he  likes;  and  if  he  can  work  a 
little,  give  him  half  a  dollar  a  day  besides,  and  grumble 
not  [323]  if  he  makes  not  above  an  hour  or  two  a  day. 
When  I  court,  I  shall  go  at  noon  and  sit  up  all  night  with 
her,  and  go  once  a  week.” 

2 3rd. —  Met  a  party  of  Rowdey  hunters,  who  state  that 
the  bear  in  the  month  of  June  is  fierce  and  chases  the 
hunters,  and  all  who  molest  it.  They  say  that  it  climbs 
the  tallest  tree  and  falls  from  the  top  without  injury,  rolled 
up  in  the  form  of  a  ball. 

The  mode  of  tempering  clay  (which  is  used  as  mortar) 
is  to  confine  and  feed  hogs  upon  it.  Corn  is  strewed  on  it 
daily,  and  they  tread  and  turn  it  all  over  with  great  industry. 

Cock  and  hen,  or  common  poultry  feathers,  are  made 
to  furnish  down  for  beds  in  the  following  manner,  fill  a 
barrel  with  these  feathers,  and  place  it  under  a  shed, 
bottom  upwards,  on  the  earth;  when,  in  a  few  months? 


298 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  11 


the  common  earth-worms  eat  up  all  the  stalk  or  stem  of 
the  feather,  and  leave  the  remainder  a  well  manufactured 
mass  of  down,  fit  for  use. 

Mr.  Maidlow  states  that  Judge  Waggoner,  at  the  cele¬ 
bration  of  the  4th  of  June  last  at  Evansville,  was  chairman, 
when  by  some  gentlemen  present  it  was  proposed  that  due 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  coming  day  in  the  form 
of  a  subscription.  This,  without  passing  to  a  vote,  was 
amended  by  another  rising  to  say,  “I  motion,  that  as 
some  cannot  command  money  they  should  bring  vege¬ 
tables,  such  as  beef,  mutton,  venison,  and  [324]  pork!” 
which  amendment  was  put  by  the  judge,  and  carried  in 
the  above  form. 

A  traveller  through  Illinois  to  Missouri  was,  while  in 
bed,  twice  disturbed  in  one  night  by  a  fellow  entering  with 
an  axe  on  his  shoulder.  The  traveller  pointed  his  pistol 
and  told  him  that  if  he  did  not  start,  he  would  shoot  him; 
he  retired,  but  in  two  hours  after  returned,  and  was  re¬ 
pulsed  again  by  the  wakeful  traveller.  A  line  of  houses 
on  the  lonely  road  to  Missouri  is,  (says  Mr.  Birkbeck  to 
Mr.  Wheeler)  in  existence,  and  kept  up  by  these  Rowdey 
robbers  and  murderers  for  the  reception  of  travellers,  and 
villains  to  rob  them.  These  houses  are  known  by  extrav¬ 
agant,  unprecedented  charges,  such  as  20  dollars  a  night 
for  man  and  horse,  which  must  be  paid,  or  the  traveller 
is  exposed  to  robbery,  and,  perhaps,  murder. 

24 th. —  I  was  indebted  to  Mr.  Phillips  for  the  company 
of  Mr.  Wheeler,  a  pleasant  young  Englishman  from 
Bristol,  with  his  wife,  seeking  a  refuge  here. 

At  midnight  a  severe  hail-storm  preceded  a  heavy  fall 
of  snow.  The  hail  fell  thick  through  the  roof  and  floor  on 
my  pillow,  and  into  my  mouth,  and  I  licked  in  the  hail¬ 
stones  as  a  luxury. 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  "Journal 


299 


25 th. —  Partridges,  or  quails,  are  here  so  tame,  that,  at 
noon-day,  a  man  may  kill  them  by  throwing  a  stick  into 
the  covey;  or,  by  staking  a  large  net,  coveys  are  drawn 
into  it  with  great  ease. 

Met  a  Mr.  Gordon,  from  the  Isle  of  Ely,  who  [325] 
states  that  the  English  at,  and  near  Cincinnati,  are  much 
dissatisfied,  and  wish  themselves  back  again.  Many  have 
purchased  land  at  thirty  to  sixty  dollars  an  acre. 

John  Pedley  bargained  to-day  with  Mr.  Ingle  for  one 
year,  to  receive  thirteen  dollars  a  month,  and  to  have  a 
house,  and  four  acres  of  cleared  land,  for  his  use,  while  he 
continues  in  his  service. 

Sunday ,  26 th. —  At  noon,  this  day,  Colonel  M’Greary 
called  at  Mr.  Canson’s  with  Major  Hooker,  and  others, 
and  demanded  whiskey,  either  to  be  given  or  sold  to  them. 
They  were  quite  drunk,  and  armed  with  rifles  from  their 
camp,  in  which  they  had  lain  all  night.  Mr.  C.  refused 
them;  when  they  attempted  to  force  the  door,  threatening 
to  kick  Mrs.  C.  out,  and  whip  and  shoot  Mr.  C.  who  had 
treated  them  rather  coarsely,  and  with  great  impolicy. 
Hooker  wished  to  shake  hands  and  forget  it.  Mr.  C. 
refused.  They  then  became  more  furious.  These  Row¬ 
dies  do  not  always  mean  violence.  They  only  want 
whiskey;  and  there  is  little  to  fear  from  them,  if  properly 
treated.  Mr.  Canson  applied  to  Squire  Russel  for  a 
warrant  against  the  Rowdies  for  the  outrage. 

Visited  the  Chatteris  Pecks.  Twelve  of  us  sat  down 
to  tea  and  coffee  without  milk,  sugar,  or  butter.  The 
females  and  the  son  think  of  Chatteris  with  regret,  and 
would  not  have  come,  if  they  could  have  known  what  they 
now  know.  The  father  is  an  exception  to  this,  but  he 
regrets  [326]  that  so  much  untruth,  in  favour  of  America, 
should  have  been  said. 


3°° 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


27 th. —  I  went  one  mile  and  a  half,  to  borrow,  from 
Mrs.  Delight  Williams,  six  tumblers,  for  the  use  of  our 
coming  Christmas  party.  This  step  was  necessary,  or 
our  friends,  the  Dons  of  the  settlement,  must  drink  out 
of  tin  cups  or  pots.  Mrs.  Williams  is  the  widow  of  the 
whipped  Yankee,  whose  story  I  have  related;  she  lives  in 
a  house  without  a  chimney,  having  only  a  hole  in  the  roof 
to  let  out  the  smoke,  the  fire  being  made  in  any  part. 
She  was  rather  unwilling  to  lend  these  tumblers,  because 
they  came  from  England,  and  money  could  not  replace 
them  if  broken.  She  should  expect  five  dollars,  though, 
in  England,  one  dollar  bought  six. 

Mr.  Hornbrook  observed,  this  evening,  that  he  did  not 
intend  to  cultivate  much;  he  did  not  care  much  about 
business. 

2 8th. —  A  young  man,  from  the  state  of  New  York, 
near  White’s  town,  reports  that  the  farmers  are  nearly  all 
farming  their  own  land,  which  is,  however,  deeply  mort¬ 
gaged.  They  keep  no  house-servants,  and  would  think 
it  ruin  to  do  so;  all  work,  and  the  women  milk.  They 
give  no  money  in  marriage  with  daughters,  but  sometimes 
a  little  land,  or  stock,  or  a  bed.  They  hire  but  little,  and 
only  in  harvest.  People  are  comfortable,  but  have  no 
money  to  employ  him  and  other  mechanics.  Gentlemen, 
one  or  two,  here  and  there,  [327]  have  a  negro  or  two  in 
the  house.  Wheat  is  one  dollar  a  bushel. 

Mr.  Ingle  spent  200/.,  out  of  550/.,  in  getting  here.  He 
bought  a  house  at  Princeton  for  300  dollars,  to  let. 
He  has  seventeen  acres  the  first  year,  and  will  have  forty 
acres  the  second  year,  in  cultivation;  his  stock  consists  of 
three  horses,  one  cow,  eight  buds,  and  many  hogs,  or 
small  pigs.  He  bought  four  hogs,  half  fat,  6oolbs.  weight, 
for  twenty  dollars.  If  he  had  money,  he  could  buy  bacon 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  ‘Journal 


3QI 


at  four  dollars,  and  sell  it  at  sixteen  dollars;  and  sugar, 
from  New  Orleans,  would  pay  fifty  per  cent. ;  costing  ten 
cents,  and  selling  at  twenty-five  cents:  two  and  a  half 
cents  being  deducted  per  lb.  for  carriage.  The  store 
goods,  bought  at  Washington,  which  he  is  selling  cheaper 
than  his  neighbours,  pay  twenty-five  per  cent,  profit.  He 
has  640  acres  of  land  entered,  for  which  the  first  instal¬ 
ment  is  paid,  and  the  next  is  to  be  paid  in  twelve  months 
hence.  He  has  entered,  for  G.  Sutton,  328  acres. 

After  a  sound  dressing  of  aqua-fortis  and  grease,  and 
scrubbing  and  washing  in  strong  hot  lie,  I  prepared  for 
quitting  Indiana,  to-morrow,  and  wrote  the  following 
epistle  to  T.  Drakard,  Esq.  in  Old  England. 

[328]  Once  for  all ,  from  an  inquiring  Englishman 

in  the  United  States. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Stamford  News. 

Ingle's  Refuge ,  Banks  of  Ohio ,  State 
of  Indiana ,  25 th  December ,  1819. 

Sir, 

To  my  esteemed  friends  and  countrymen,  living 
within  the  wide  circuit  of  your  paper,  and  expecting  many 
long  promised  epistles,  say  that  the  task  is  impracticable, 
and  therefore  justly  abandoned.  What  they  need,  truth , 
is  always  difficult  to  attain;  and  a  correct  impression  of 
things,  made  by  weight  of  unwilling,  or  long  concealed 
evidence,  examined  and  cross-examined,  will,  perhaps,  be 
found  in  my  journal,  calculated  to  undeceive,  disappoint, 
and,  as  usual,  offend,  nearly  all  those  of  whom,  and  for 
whom  I  have  written. 

It  is,  I  regret  to  say,  too  true,  that  the  writings  of  emi¬ 
grants,  however  respectable,  present  a  partial  or  unfaithful 
portraiture ;  ‘  ‘ shewing  things  as  they  should  be ,  not  as  they 


3°2 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


are”  Such  authority,  then,  is  questionable  and  deceptive. 
Each  individual  destined  never  to  return,  wants,  and 
tempts,  his  friends  to  follow;  the  motive,  perhaps,  is  inno¬ 
cent,  or  venial,  but  the  consequences  are  evil  and  disas¬ 
trous. 

My  peregrinations,  visits,  and  visitations,  to  many 
points  and  intersections  of  the  compass,  and  [329]  to  all 
ranks  of  native  and  adopted  citizens,  on  this  continent, 
are  little  short  of  eight  thousand  miles.  Of  those  visited, 
and  added  to  the  number  of  my  acquaintance,  exclusive 
of  excellencies,  honourables,  generals,  majors,  captains, 
judges,  and  squires,  are  our  two  distinguished  expatriates, 
Birkbeck  and  Flower,  with  whom  I  have  spent  days  more 
interesting  than  fall  to  the  lot  of  travellers  in  common. 
Of  their  success  or  failure,  satisfaction  or  disappointment, 

I,  at  present,  say  nothing.  By  me,  they  were  met  with  - 
feelings  of  respect,  and  quitted  with  regret. 

My  inquiries  have,  been,  as  promised,  directed  to  one 
grand  object;  that  of  ascertaining,  by  first-rate  means, 
the  past  and  present  condition,  and  future  probable  pros¬ 
pects,  of  British  emigrants,  and  the  consequent  good  or 
evil  of  emigration,  in  the  hope  of  clearly  defining  and  ex¬ 
posing  its  character,  so  that  it  may  no  longer  remain  a 
doubtful  or  desperate  enterprize,  a  journey  in  the  dark, 
alternately  praised  or  blamed,  but  a  cause,  attaching  to 
it  certain  consequences,  which,  for  some  persons  to  em¬ 
brace,  or  shun,  is  become  a  visible,  tangible,  matter  of 
duty. 

To  my  countrymen  disposed  to  emigrate,  but  who  can, 
by  encreased  exertion,  keep  their  unequalled  comforts 
and  honour  unimpaired,  I  would  say,  in  a  voice  which 
should  be  heard  from  shore  to  shore,  “Stay  where  you 
are ;  for  neither  America,  nor  the  world,  have  any  thing 


1818-1819] 


Faux's  Journal 


3°3 


to  [330]  offer  you  in  exchange !”  But  to  those  of  decreas¬ 
ing  means,  and  increasing  families,  uprooted,  withering, 
and  seeking  a  transplantation  somewhere ,  full  of  hard, 
dirty-handed  industry,  and  with  means  sufficient  for  lo¬ 
cation  here,  I  would  say,  ‘ 1  Haste  away,  you  have  no  other 
refuge  from  poverty,  which,  in  England,  is  crime,  punish¬ 
able  with  neglect,  and  contempt  everlasting !  ”  But,  if  you 
come,  come  one  and  all  of  you,  male  and  female,  in  your 
working  jackets,  with  axes,  ploughshares,  and  pruning- 
hooks  in  your  hands,  prepared  long  to  suffer  many  priva¬ 
tions,  expecting  to  be  your  own  servants, —  no  man’s 
masters;  to  find  liberty  and  independence,  any  thing  but 
soft  indulgence;  and  America,  a  land  only  of  everlasting, 
well-rewarded  labour.  Thus,  morally  and  physically 
qualified,  the  dark,  lonely  wilds  and  interminable  forests, 
which  now  surround  me,  shall  bow  before  you,  yielding 
to  your  cultivation  every  common  good  thing,  but  not  satis¬ 
faction,  which  is  not  of  earthly  growth!  For  you,  even 
you,  escaped  from  prisons  and  pauperism,  will,  sometimes, 
‘hang  your  harps  on  the  willow,  and  weep,’  when  you 
remember  distant  England.  Very  few  emigrants,  what¬ 
soever  may  have  been  their  disgusts  and  evils  in  the  old 
country,  or  their  successes  in  the  new,  can  forget  their 
‘dear  native  land.’  The  recollection  is,  indeed,  an  imped¬ 
iment  to  their  prosperity;  distance  only  enhances  her  value, 
and,  as  a  much-loved,  ungrateful  mistress,  her  charms  only 
[331]  are  remembered  and  cherished.  This  seems  an 
indestructible  feeling;  the  incurable  mania  of  the  British 
exile. 

I  am  now  living  on  wild  bucks  and  bears,  mixed  up, 
and  barbarizing  with  men  almost  as  wild  as  they:  men, 
systematically  unprincipled,  and  in  whom  the  moral  sense 
seems  to  have  no  existence:  this  is  the  lot  of  all  coming 


3°4 


Early  Western  Travels 


[Vol.  ii 


here.  The  climate  is  not  good  in  any  season,  and  though 
better  here  than  east  of  the  mountains,  is  yet  unfriendly 
to  industry  every  where.  Summer,  amidst  breezy  shades, 
champaigne  and  brandy;  and  winter,  with  two  down  beds, 
one  over  and  one  under  you,  and  a  hickory  fire  continu¬ 
ally,  are  just  tolerable !  The  autumn  is  pleasant  enough, 
but  too  generally  pestilential. 

Having  to  commence  in  the  morning,  a  journey  of  one 
thousand  miles,  on  horseback,  on  my  way  to  England, 
through  the  Cities  of  Washington  and  Charleston,  and  the 
worst  roads  and  weather  in  the  universe,  the  mercury  be¬ 
ing  now  three  degrees  below  zero;  riding,  and  not  writing, 
presses  on  the  attention  of,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  Faux. 

30 th. —  I  bade  a  long,  final  farewell,  to  this  kind  family, 
and  the  best  woman  in  Indiana,  whom  I  left  in  tears.  In 
company  with  Mr.  Ingle,  I  mounted  a  young  colt,  three 
years  old,  bought  for  me  at  100  dollars.  My  saddle  was 
covered  with  a  bear-skin;  [332]  myself  dressed  in  three 
shirts,  two  waist-coats,  three  coats,  three  pair  of  breeches, 
three  pair  of  hose,  and  a  seal-cap.  I  called  to  warm  at 
Squire  RusselPs,  who  makes  his  own  shoes,  in  a  one-room 
log-hole,  where  hung  a  wild  turkey  on  the  chimney-piece, 
for  dinner.  He  could  not  find  a  man  to  serve  the  warrant, 
at  the  suit  of  Mr.  Canson,  on  Hooker,  and  means  to  im¬ 
panel  a  Rowdey  jury,  and  try  the  matter  before  himself. 
The  cold  this  day  is  two  below  zero. 

We  reached  Princeton  at  four  o’clock;  and  here  I  met 
Mr.  R.  Birkbeck,  a  partner  with  Mr.  Peel  in  the  store  at 
Wanborough. 

31  st. —  Intense  cold,  three  below  zero,  the  wind  blowing 


1818-1819] 


Faux' s  Journal 


3°5 


from  the  North  Lakes;  the  water  on  my  head  and  face 
freezes,  while  I  am  washing,  and  much  cuts  my  lips  and 
face.  Three  suns  rose  this  morning,  say  the  astronomers 
of  Princeton.  I  spent  the  evening  with  Judge  Hart. 
Fifty  pounds  per  cent,  profit  is  made  on  store  goods  in  the 
west. 


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XVI — Index. 

Sixteen  volumes,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  uncut,  gilt  tops.  A  limited  edition 
only  printed  direct  from  type,  and  the  type  distributed.  Each  volume  hand¬ 
somely  printed  in  large  type  on  Dickinson’s  hand-made  paper,  and  illustra¬ 
ted  with  maps,  plates,  and  facsimiles. 

Published  a  volume  each  two  months,  beginning  September,  1902. 
Price,  volumes  1  and  2,  $2.00  net  each;  volumes  3  to  16,  $2.50  net 
each. 

Fifty  sets  printed  on  large  paper,  each  numbered  and  signed  by  the 
author.  Bound  in  cloth,  with  paper  label,  uncut,  gilt  tops.  Price,  $5.00 
net  per  volume. 


tlThe  fruit  not  only  of  the  study  of  original  historical  sources  in  documents  found  here  and  in 
England,  but  of  patient  and  enthusiastic  topographical  studies,  in  the  course  of  which  every  foot  of 
these  old  historic  highways  has  been  traced  and  traversed.” — The  Living  Age. 

“The  volumes  already  issued  show  Mr.  Hulbert  to  be  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic  student,  and  a 
reliable  guide.” — Out  West. 

“  A  look  through  these  volumes  shows  most  conclusively  that  a  new  source  of  history  is  being 
developed— a  source  which  deals  with  the  operation  of  the  most  effective  causes  influencing  human 
affairs.” — Iowa  Journal  of  History  and  Politics. 

“The  successive  volumes  in  the  series  may  certainly  be  awaited  with  great  interest,  for  they 
promise  to  deal  with  the  most  romantic  phases  of  the  awakening  of  America  at  the  dawn  of  occi¬ 
dental  civilization.” — Boston  Transcript. 

44  The  publishers  have  done  their  part  toward  putting  forth  with  proper  dignity  this  important 
work.  It  is  issued  on  handsome  paper  and  is  illustrated  with  many  maps,  diagrams,  and  old 
prints.  ” — Chicago  Evening  Post. 


Date  Due 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


65 


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V 


/tfw/nrxs 


Boston  College  Library 

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